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GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 



GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 



BY 

JAKOB BOLIN 

LATE PROFESSOR OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH; 

FORMERLY DEAN OF THE CHAUTAUQUA SUMMER SCHOOL OF 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION; AND INSTRUCTOR IN THE NEW 

YORK AND NEW HAVEN NORMAL SCHOOLS OF 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

EARL BARNES 



ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS 




KEW YORK 

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 




G\1 A ^ 






Copyright , /3i7, 6y 
Frederick A. Stokes Company 



All rights reserved^ including that of translation 
into foreign languages 

of Co»|frMS mfder See- 50, 




MAR 23 1917 



FOREWORD 

At the time of his death, Professor Jakob Bolin 
had completed the manuscript the contents of which 
appear in the following pages. It had been his in- 
tention to add other chapters and to illustrate and 
publish the work, but he died before this could be 
accomplished. Dr. Jay W. Seaver, a former col- 
league and intimate friend of Mr. Bolin, took over 
the manuscript with a view to publishing it, but 
within a year, before the work was under way, he 
also died. 

Feeling strongly that Professor Bolin's manu- 
script is one of the most important contributions 
to the subject of gymnastics which has been written 
in English, we, as a group of his associates at the 
University of Utah, thereupon undertook the task. 
With the courteous co-operation of the publishers, 
and of Professor Earl Barnes, who furnished the 
introduction, we are now able to present the book 
to the public. The illustrations and minor changes 
in the text are our own; for what they lack, we alone 
are responsible. 

We cannot refrain from taking advantage of this 



vi FOREWORD 

opportunity to express our love and profound ad- 
miration for Mr. Bolin, whose delightful personal- 
ity and unusual professional attainments made him 
admired and esteemed across a continent. 



INTRODUCTION 

In his pursuit of civilization man is continually 
reaching conditions which threaten to destroy him. 
For protective covering, he substitutes fashionable 
costumes ; in place of a nourishing diet, he develops 
a sense-commanding and overstimulating course of 
entertainments in eating; for healthful exercise, he 
substitutes ease and sedentary habits ; fresh air gives 
way to over heated and over used interiors. With 
these abuses of his physical life come new diseases ; 
heart and kidney troubles and pneumonia sweep 
away the slaves of civilization. 

And for this tendency to self-destruction there 
are but two correctives. One is through Rous- 
seau's return to nature, and the other is through 
more civilization, more intelligently conceived and 
executed. When we have built our house so well 
that it not only shuts out the storms but also the 
fresh air, then we must either tear down the house 
or set up an engine in the basement and force fresh 
air through the rooms. It is clear that for men 
there is no going back in civilizational development. 
Nothing could be more artificial than for a civilized 

vii 



viii INTRODUCTION 

man to return to the woods. Once under way, we 
must go on to higher levels or perish. 

The most far reaching of all the evil consequences 
of our civilization gather around our artificial ac- 
tivities, and lack of activity* Our bodies have not 
had the development that comes through out-of- 
door work and play in childhood; and in maturity 
we live in mines, factories and libraries. Not only 
the bony framework and the muscular system suf- 
fer, but all the more delicate machinery of diges- 
tion, circulation and respiration is disturbed and 
impaired. The nervous system, being badly nour- 
ished, fails to do its best and man faces destruction. 

The corrective for this condition lies in gymnas- 
tics. Vacations, walks, golf, tennis, riding and the 
like will help maintain physical vigor but they are 
only lunches and refreshments taken between meals. 
Well-considered gymnastics must make the physi- 
cal diet of modern man. The body must have reg- 
ular exercises if it is to be kept in its best estate. 

With children, this is especially true. Their 
bodies are to be shaped and developed on lines of 
efficient action. They are to be strained and tough- 
ened into their full power of resistance. Incipient 
weakness or malformation must be detected and 
corrected. Everyone knows this, but how slowly 
do we respond to our knowledge! This is partly 



INTRODUCTION ix 

because the training of a sound and beautiful body 
is no simple task. It requires profound knowledge 
of anatomy and physiology, with skill in devising 
exercises that will give the maximum of training 
with the minimum of waste and danger. 

Just now, when all the world is facing war and 
the need of the physical efficiency that makes suc- 
cessful armies, this book should make an especial 
appeal to America. For military preparedness, we 
must have, in the first place, a country worth fight- 
ing for, and in the second place, strong men and 
women. Military drill and munitions can be pro- 
vided if a nation has ideals and men. Gymnastics 
will give the best of military preparedness, with the 
minimum of disturbance to our peaceful ideals. 

We have no one in America better prepared to 
write on this subject of gymnastics than was Mr. 
Jakob Bolin, the author of this volume. He 
brought to the task a most thorough training in 
anatomy and physiology, through his study in Swe- 
den which he extended and perfected with each year 
of his life. In his work in America he trained 
thousands of teachers who revere his name, while in 
his Institute in New York, he dealt with every form 
of physical defect, requiring ever fresh considera- 
tion and special treatment. 

His thinking was always scientific, in the best 



x INTRODUCTION 

sense of the word. He spared no pains in deter- 
mining facts, and no theory could stand in the way 
of a fact. With the facts in hand, he set to work to 
realize all that was possible. No labor was too 
great for him ; and his standard of achievement was 
always as far ahead as he could see. He was a sci- 
entific humanist ; and these pages from his pen will 
be eagerly prized by all who knew him, and will 
make those who did not know him regret that he 
wrote so little. 

Earl Barnes. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 

I Our Aim 



II The Principle of Gymnastic Selection 

III The Principle of Gymnastic Totality 

IV The Principle of Gymnastic Unity . 

V The Composition of the Lesson . 

VI Progression 

VII General Considerations of Method . 



page 
1 

23 

57 

73 

81 

97 

135 



XI 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Jakob Bolin Frontispiece 

FOLLOWING 
FIG. PAGE 

1. A simple movement of the upper arms in the plane 

of the shoulders 6 

2. Common bad form in the "wing" position ... 6 

3. A corrective exercise with the upper arms in the 

plane of the shoulders 14 

4. Unless care is exercised, the elbows and head are 

likely to be carried forward 14 

5. A simple position involving static activity in the 

dorsal region 22 

6. Errors of form commonly seen when an attempt 

is made to assume the position indicated in Fig. 5 22 

7. A type of activity effective in preventing abduc- 

tion of the shoulder blades 30 

8. If the elbows and shoulder blades are allowed to 

move forward, the activity indicated in Fig. 7 
becomes of little value 30 

9. The back muscles are strengthened and shortened 

by efforts to incline the body forward from the 
hips 38 

10. Maintaining the arms upward intensifies the action 

indicated under Fig. 9 38 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

FOLLOWING 
FIG. PAGE 

11. The back muscles are strengthened and shortened 

by arching the body backward while lying prone 46 

12. Maintaining the arms upward intensifies the action 

indicated under Fig. 11 46 

13. Abduction of the shoulder blades commonly seen 

in exercises involving the "reach" position . . 54 

14. Trunk bending forward in which all of the verte- 

bral joints participate is detrimental to the best 
results 60 

15. Pronounced tension of the tissues in front with 

shortening of the back muscles 68 

16. A "tense bending" secures static activity in the 

shoulder region, and the ribs spread out fanlike 

in front 74 

17. A type of activity having opposite results from 

those which usually prompt its use .... 82 

18. Strong activity of the pectoral muscles to protect 

the shoulder joint 88 

19. The muscles of the back which need strengthening 

are inactive, while the anterior muscles oppose 
the strain 94 

20. The wand acts as a brace to overcome which the 

pectoral muscles contract 100 

21. Pectoral activity often mistaken for dorsal . .106 

22A. When the weight is passively suspended, the exer- 
cise has practically a negligible value . . .112 

22B. The bony framework of the shoulder girdle as in- 
fluenced by passive suspension 112 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

FOLLOWING* 
TIQ. PAGE 

23 A. An active suspension of body weight. Compare 

with Fig. 22A 120 

23B. The bony framework of the shoulder girdle as in- 
fluenced by active suspension. Compare with 
Fig. 22A 120 

24. If the elbows are bent in the shoulder plane, chest 

elevation and expansion result 126 

25. Chest depression is brought about by the ordinary 

"chinning" 126 

26. In arm bending from postures of this type, the 

elbows should be kept in the shoulder plane . 134 

27. The activity loses most of its value if the scapula? 

are abducted and elbows carried forward . .134 

28. A writing posture which should result from gym- 

nastic training 142 

29. A writing posture commonly seen. Compare with 

Fig. 28 142 

30. A type of activity in which the ribs are held ele- 

vated while the abdominal wall is strengthened 148 

31. If the feet are not firmly fixed, an attempt to sit 

up curls the body forward 154 

32. When the prone body rests upon hands and feet, 

the lumbar curve often becomes exaggerated . 162 

38, Contraction of the abdominal muscles corrects the 

error of form shown in Fig. 32 . . . . .162 

34. The beneficial effects of trunk bending backward 
are lost unless it is performed correctly. Com- 
pare with Fig. 15 162 



GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 



GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

CHAPTER I 

OUR AIM 

It shall be my privilege to formulate more or 
less definitely certain problems in the work of the 
teacher of gymnastics and to point out the direc- 
tion in which I see their solution. 

To do so it is necessary first to take a rapid glance 
at the place which gymnastics is supposed to fill in 
our time, or, in other words, to establish what the 
aim or aims may be of its introduction in our lives. 

Note, then, that our profession is born at a com- 
paratively late period of social evolution. It is 
a product of a comparatively high civilization, of 
a rather complex life. The lower the civilization, 
the simpler the life we lead, the more easily do we 
fit into the environment, reacting properly to its 
stimuli, and the less need there is of any par- 
ticular preparation or education in any direction. 
The preparation which the individual needs he gets 
incidentally from his mode of life. It is a natural 



2 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

training, which tends to make of him more or less 
of an automaton, reacting unerringly, and more or 
less unconsciously, to the influence of the environ- 
ment, very much as a bear cub or a young chicken 
does. This natural training gives, however, small 
power of adaptation to changes in the environment. 
The automaton acts well within certain well de- 
fined limits, but it fails when new modes of reac- 
tion are required daily and hourly, because of the 
complex nature and everchanging character of the 
environment. Then there seems the necessity of 
introducing artificial means by which the individual 
learns to adjust himself to the great variety of the 
conditions surrounding him, and to choose con- 
sciously or unconsciously, among many possible re- 
actions the one which is best adapted to meet both 
present and remote conditions. Education is the 
artificial means invented by man, as a reasoning 
being, to supply the needs which natural training 
cannot supply. Gymnastics is the most artificial 
and formal part of physical education, and is the 
last part to make its appearance. When life's 
duties become chiefly intellectual; when the physi- 
cal activity is taken out of it; when the individual 
becomes confined to canons of brick and mortar in- 
stead of being able to roam over hill and vale ; when 
he becomes tied to a machine or an office desk, in- 



OUR AIM 8 

stead of making his living by stalking the deer; 
when he hugs the stove and uses artificial light to 
dispel the gloom created by himself, instead of bask- 
ing in the sun with the winds playing freely around 
him; when he finds that his gains in many direc- 
tions are bought by a loss of something in other di- 
rections ; and when he comes to the conclusion that 
the loss is due to the decrease in physical activity; 
then he does not turn to gymnastics as a help. He 
instinctively tries to return to his natural ancestral 
life. He goes tramping through the woods, as his 
forefathers before him, in search of game. He 
goes fishing, hardly expecting but always hoping to 
catch something. He is not a fisherman, but a 
sportsman. It is not the fish he wants. He can 
buy them cheaper. He wants the j oy and the pleas- 
ure, the relaxation and the excitement, the change 
of activity from intellectual sensory to intellectual 
motor. He takes his vacations in the mountains or 
at the seashore. He roughs it. He doffs the garb 
of civilization to commune with Nature. 

But measures like these are sporadic and unsatis- 
factory. They are costly in time and money. The 
virgin forests fall by the woodsman's ax. The fields 
are taken up by the farmers. The beaches are filled 
with summer resorts, vying with the cities in their 
artificiality. He is everywhere met with signs 



4 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

warning him of "No trespassing here," "Keep off 
the grass." He finds it more and more impossible 
to be natural in his activities, and seeks a substitute 
in plays and games of olden times, perhaps modified 
to be within his easy reach. He invents new ones 
to suit the contingencies of his life. He plays 
football, golf, tennis, goes rowing or canoeing. 
But civilization means evergrowing urbanization. 
The necessary facilities for indulging in these sports 
become more and more inaccessible to an evergrow- 
ing percentage of our population. The games are 
played less frequently, and at greater expenditure 
of time and money. Then the citizen begins to feel 
that the physical activity which he craves must be 
brought directly into his home or office, or at least 
next door to him. He also demands that it shall 
be concentrated and regulated so as to affect him 
most favorably in the briefest possible time. He 
cannot afford to rely upon chance. He wants the 
matter studied, systematized, formulated, so that 
he may gain with reasonable certainty just the ef- 
fects most desirable to him. Gymnastics, the most 
formal and artificial, the most systematized of all 
branches of physical training, enters to fill the needs 
of the citizen in a highly organized community. 

So I picture to myself the racial development of 
gymnastics. And as everywhere else we find a re- 



OUR AIM 5 

capitulation of its essential features when we con- 
sider the individual. The infant's play is essen- 
tially the instinctive reaction to the environment. 
The form of the movements, their intensity, their 
speed, their sequence, are determined by extraneous 
circumstances, not by the reasoning powers. Any 
change in the conditions brings immediate corre- 
sponding varieties in the activity. That is the 
natural training period. But the child grows and 
enters into communion with his kind, becomes a part 
of the community, and begins to reason. When 
his unregulated activity comes in contact with that 
of others, the activity of all becomes subjected to 
direction of reason. The immediate interests of 
one become subordinated to those of all, division of 
labor appears, rules are formulated, to which each 
submits, and, because of which, each inhibits his 
activity in one direction in order to supply it more 
particularly in another. There is a gradual transi- 
tion to the highly organized games, many of which 
resemble primitive man's vocations, hunting and 
warfare. The organization grows more and more 
complicated, the division of labor is carried farther 
and farther. The general training disappears, a 
onesided one takes its place. And the individual 
finds the necessity of supplementing his onesided 
training in one direction by onesided training in 



6 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

another direction. Sooner or later the young man 
or the young woman lands in the gymnasium to find 
in its artificial methods a substitute for nature's 
training. 

I thus emphasize the artificiality of gymnastics. 
This does not signify its inferiority to the so-called 
natural methods. Far from it. Difference is not 
inferiority. There are certain benefits coming from 
physical activity which are secured very much bet- 
ter and more easily by other methods of training 
than by gymnastics. But the much vaunted su- 
periority of the so-called "Nature's own way" is 
much exaggerated. Those who make the distinc- 
tion between the artificial and the natural, that the 
former is always bad, the latter always good, are 
making a grievous mistake. To be logical they 
should condemn civilization itself, because civiliza- 
tion is artificial. It is natural to tell the time by 
the position of the sun. It is artificial to use a 
watch. But the latter is more precise. The trou- 
ble seems to lie in a confusion of the terms artificial 
and unnatural. In many features our civilization 
is unnatural. But these are unessentials. All the 
essentials are natural, in accord with the results 
of Nature's own laws. The raw material springs 
from Nature unaided, the finished product is the 
result of reason applied to Nature's product. The 




Fig 1. 

A simple movement of the upper arms in the plane of the 

shoulders. (See page 35.) 




Fig 2. 
Common bad form in the " wing " position. (See page 36.) 



OUR AIM 7 

same relation holds good in physical training. 
Tracking, felling and bringing home a deer is a 
kind of raw material of physical activity. Gym- 
nastics is the selection of the raw material, its com- 
bination in various ways, its polishing until the 
natural product is made more suitable for the needs 
of civilized man. 

What are these needs? Why do people gener- 
ally take to some form of exercise? Why do they 
go walking, bicycling, or horseback riding, when 
they do not need it for getting from one place to 
another? Why do they play tennis or golf? 

Why do they frequent the gymnasia? And, by 
all means, why do so many profound thinkers urge 
the necessity of supplying our school children with 
physical activity of this and other kinds? This 
last question is important because its answer may 
not coincide with the answers to the former ques- 
tions. The individual who turns to physical ac- 
tivity, not because of any knowledge on the subject 
but simply because of an indistinct feeling or de- 
sire for it, may be able to give us hints, but it is 
those who have given deep thought and careful con- 
sideration to the subject to whom we must turn for 
definite information. 

The former will probably tell us that he looks 
for recreation, for relief from strenuous mental ac- 



8 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

tivity, for pleasure, for joy, and because it is a mat- 
ter of general experience that at least a certain 
amount of physical activity is necessary for the 
maintenance of physical health and vigor, and that 
his sedentary life does not give him enough of it. 

The student will speak of these two points as 
desirable in the highest degree. He will tell us 
that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." 
He will point out that civilization has tended and 
is tending to supplant muscular labor at such a 
rate that not only the professional man has been 
deprived of the vigor which comes from physical 
activity, but the introduction of machinery has dis- 
pensed with the severer muscular labor also of a 
large number of workmen who are now becoming 
parts of the machines they tend, limited mainly to 
pressing the button or some other similar small 
acts, and that their general health deteriorates as 
well as that of the professional classes because of 
the small amount of physical activity. But he also 
tells us that the reintroduction of physical activity 
into the life of civilized man is necessary not simply 
because of the general lack of such activity in our 
daily vocation but still more for the purpose of 
counterbalancing such activity as still remains. He 
will call our attention not only to the insufficient 
amount of physical labor performed by our physi- 



OUR AIM 9 

cians, lawyers, clergymen, teachers, business men, 
and factory workers, to sustain health, but will em- 
phasize the narrow limits within which the labor 
of the blacksmith, the farmer, the general laborer, 
is confined, even though this labor be prodigious in 
quantity. He will maintain that the highest de- 
gree of vigor cannot be built merely on a certain 
quantity of physical activity, but asserts that to 
assure the greatest amount of physical well-being 
the activity must be harmonious, distributed over 
the whole physical man. He will point out that 
the school curricula not only supply an insufficient 
amount and too few forms of physical activity, upon 
which to sustain that degree of health necessary to 
serve as a solid foundation for education, but that 
they are deficient also in as much as they ignore 
the direct influence of physical activity upon men- 
tal and moral development. He will recite to us 
the loss in these respects which has come when many 
of the educative duties of the home in a primitive 
community have necessarily been dropped with the 
oncoming of more highly civilized stages, without 
being taken up by the school which should naturally 
inherit them. The participation of the child in 
the many duties of the home, doing of chores, help- 
ing in supplying the family with the means of sub- 
sistence, all that is practically gone from the civ- 



10 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

ilized home, and with it a wide gate to knowledge 
has been closed, an educative means of the highest 
value has been swept away, and nothing has come 
to take its place. Physical training in its various 
aspects is supposed to fill the vacuum, at least to 
some extent. 

The purpose then of physical training is recrea- 
tive, hygienic, in both a general and a special sense, 
and educative. 

It is self-evident that though the general pur- 
pose of physical training has many aspects, all of 
which should be duly considered by those who are 
in charge of the work, one or the other view-point 
may become of paramount importance in certain 
classes. It is also self-evident that the great va- 
riety of physical activity at our disposal makes it 
possible to vary the means employed, so that dif- 
ferent procedures which more readily yield recrea- 
tive results may be used when recreation is the 
main object in view, while others more effective in 
a hygienic sense should attract our attention under 
different conditions. 

Thus if I seek the means best adapted for fur- 
nishing recreation, all will agree that for both child 
and adolescent, and even for adults, play, unor- 
ganized or organized, takes the first place. Gym- 
nastics can and shall furnish recreation, because 



OUR AIM 11 

that is part of the purpose of physical training as 
a whole; but it would be bad policy to give gym- 
nastics particularly for that purpose when other 
and more effective means are at hand. The recrea- 
tive aim of physical training should be sought 
mainly on the playground, if such exists or can 
be obtained, not in the gymnasium except when 
conditions absolutely prohibit us from applying 
means by which the most recreation can be gained 
with the least waste of energy. 

The amount of physical activity necessary for 
a person engaged in exclusively intellectual or 
small mechanical fields may be supplied in many 
ways. If you, like Gladstone, have opportunity 
to fell trees, you may well do so, sure that thereby 
increased vigor will be your reward. If you can 
buy a suburban home where you can dig, and hoe, 
and serve as general utility man, you will benefit 
from it. If you can get a horse for a morning 
ride; if you can join a golf or tennis club; if you 
can indulge in any of the many forms of sports 
open to persons of means and some degree of lei- 
sure, then by all means make the investment. It 
will pay good dividends. But for the great ma- 
jority of people whose opportunities for these 
forms of activity are limited ; for the mass of school 
children, who cannot pitch a ball on the street for 



12 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

fear of hitting a staid old citizen on the head, who 
cannot run the bases without bumping into a baby, 
who have no space to move in large ways, — for 
these, for the common people, for the growing gen- 
eration especially, the gymnasium is, perhaps not 
the best, but the most convenient place in which 
they may have their needs fulfilled. Gymnastics 
is not a form of activity absolutely necessary for 
maintaining general health and vigor. It will prob- 
ably be less prominent for that purpose, as parks 
and playgrounds come to be universally recognized 
as necessaries of city life, when we become civilized 
enough to acknowledge that no man's life should 
consist merely of slaving, sleeping and eating. 
The general hygienic purpose may, at least partly, 
be gained by less formal exercise, but as a matter 
of fact, it is not usually secured by these means by 
the majority of the people, and the gymnastic 
teacher will be failing in his duty if he does not see 
to it that a large amount of work is accomplished 
in his classes, whatever the forms may be that he 
uses. 

But, however important for hygienic purposes 
it may be that the individual has a certain quantity 
of physical activity, quantity alone does not suffice 
to secure the greatest possible vigor. The vital or- 
gans, even though healthy, must work under the 



OUR AIM 13 

most economical conditions. We do not need to 
enter into detailed explanations, for instance, of 
the great waste in energy expenditure which re- 
sults from that common faulty attitude which is 
characterized by exaggerated spinal curves, ab- 
ducted shoulder-blades, and relaxed abdominal 
walls. It may perhaps be permitted simply to 
record here the conviction that this attitude, so 
prevalent among all classes and at all ages is, per- 
haps, sapping more energy than any other one fac- 
tor. It means lessened space for the heart and 
the large vessels ; it means a mighty decrease in the 
respiration; it means the withdrawal of a large part 
of the influence of the respiration upon venous and 
lymphatic circulation ; it means a diminution of that 
natural massage by the diaphragm and the abdom- 
inal walls from which the abdominal viscera should 
derive benefit; it means the lack of support nor- 
mally given these organs; it means, in brief, un- 
favorable conditions for practically all the organs 
upon which our nutrition, circulation and elimina- 
tion depend. 

To prevent the development of these unfavorable 
conditions becomes one of the most important 
duties of society, and physical training is the proper 
means for it. This is our specific hygenic duty. 
But the games and the sports are, as a rule, unde- 



14 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

termined and general. The forms of the move- 
ments are not selected directly with a view to their 
effects upon the organism but in order to accom- 
plish a definite external task. The activity in them 
is of the same general kind as that in the profes- 
sions or trades. It is mainly flexor activities. And 
games and play and sports and athletics cannot 
therefore supply the necessary corrective influence 
except in quantity. They themselves need to be 
supplemented by corrective agencies. I believe no- 
body will gainsay the assertion that our athletes 
are not, as a rule, particularly good models as to 
carriage. An exception should be made for our 
oarsmen, which have in their activity excellent cor- 
rectives to other athletic and professional work. 
With the severest forms of competition eliminated, 
I believe rowing would be as near an ideal exercise 
as any one form well could be. But it is available 
only to the few, and practically the only road open 
to us, if we wish to secure to the growing genera- 
tion the benefits of an erect carriage, a harmonious 
development with all that it implies of vigor, effi- 
ciency and beauty, is to select particular formal ex- 
ercises — gymnastics. 

The purely educational benefits, which gymnastic 
training is expected to furnish, are so manifold, and 
it is in their contemplation that we first become 




Fig. 3. 

A corrective exercise with the upper arms in the plane of the 
shoulders. {See page 35.) 




Fig. 4. 

Unless care is exercised, the elbows and head are likely to be 
carried forward. (See page 36.) 



OUR AIM 15 

really aware of the necessity of placing physical 
training upon a broad foundation. 

But let us, who deal with gymnastics, be frank 
enough to acknowledge that the formal training, 
however valuable it may be in this regard, can fur- 
nish very little indeed of those benefits compared 
with the less formal and more spontaneous exer- 
cises. The gymnastic teacher should of course not 
forget his duty to help in developing power of at- 
tention, in educating sense-perception, in stimulat- 
ing will, in making each pupil fit to assume his place 
as an active member of society cooperating with 
others. If he forgets this, he fails in one of the 
most essential features. But is it not a fact that 
what our educators mainly ask from physical train- 
ing is that it shall give the pupil a better knowl- 
edge of and belief in himself, a desire to overcome 
obstacles and defeat difficulties? That physical 
training shall steel the courage, make the individual 
feel a longing to be in the midst of the fray, de- 
velop men with initiative and aggressiveness, men 
fit to lead in any enterprise, men on whom we can 
rely to carry the civilization a step further, men who 
do not leave the school or college behind them on 
the day of graduation but who take it with them into 
life, carrying it and the benefits of education into 
whatever place they may have to fill, men of whom 



16 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

it shall not sneeringly be said that their education 
has made them unfit for practical life, but who must 
be recognized as eminently practical, not in spite 
of, but because of their deeper learning, men who 
not only have been passively filled with the wisdom 
of books, but who have been trained well in both 
thinking and in doing. And men of that type are 
not created by formal activity, such as is the chief 
characteristic of gymnastics, even though they may 
be rounded off thereby. They are made on the 
football field, in the shell, wherever competition en- 
ters fiercely, where presence of mind, control of 
the body and dogged persistence are demanded, not 
where activity is regulated by a commanding leader, 
or thumping on the piano, or where each goes forth 
to do his stunt and then retires, but where each 
watches his opportunity to sail in with all his might 
when needed, where each relies upon his judg- 
ment. 

The particular aim of gymnastics, then, the aim 
which can be gained by no other branch of physi- 
cal training, is what we have spoken of as hygienic 
in a special sense, to counteract the evils of one- 
sided activity. Those who, with me, so see the main 
object of gymnastics are frequently criticized for 
their narrowness. They would be narrow if they 
refused to see anything but this circumscribed field. 



OUR AIM 17 

But the mere fact that they distinguish between this 
particular field and the broader one of physical 
training does not make them narrow. It rather 
guarantees that within that particular field they 
will do their work far better than if they endeavored 
to gain results by their work which can be better 
gained by other means ; far better than if they con- 
found play with work: far better than if they en- 
couraged the one already efficient at the expense 
of the one who is backward. May the teacher of 
gymnastics ever have a clear and vivid conception 
of the limitations of his own work so that he does 
not enter into fields which are not his, dissipating 
his energy and that of his pupils in futile endeavors 
to gain that which gymnastics cannot gain. But 
may he at the same time remember that the gym- 
nastics is not the end. It is only one means among 
many for a given end, the development of citizens 
of the highest order; citizens with a straight back 
and well poised head, to be sure, but who need far 
more than that, who need all that physical training 
can give, all that education can give. 

It is poor gymnastics when the teacher is unable 
to furnish that which should be brought forth by 
the gymnastic exercises better than by any other 
means. It is poor gymnastics when fun becomes 
the chief end instead of the condiment giving the 



18 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

necessary zest. It is poor gymnastics when the 
main object is to expend a certain number of foot- 
pounds of energy to secure increase in cardiac and 
pulmonary activity, without care being taken that 
these organs are put under the most favorable con- 
ditions to meet the increased demand upon them. 
It is poor gymnastics if we strive to astound the 
world by nicely finished and smoothly gliding com- 
binations of complex movements fit to be put into 
the repertoire of a juggler, or by exhibitions of 
strength vying with those of a Sandow, if we do 
not take into consideration the effects on the vital 
functions. But poor as all this is, poorer still is 
the gymnastics if we forget that we deal with hu- 
man beings, not with machines ; if we kill the souls 
of our pupils by formalism believing that we care 
properly for their bodies, if we act as if we were 
burdened down by an overload of method instead 
of being guided, directed, carried by common 
sense. 

It is because of the necessity to emphasize this 
broadness of view that I consider it better to speak 
of developmental gymnastics, rather than to use 
the narrower terms, recreative, hygienic or educa- 
tional. 

Physical activity of a formal kind is used also 
for therapeutic purposes, to influence directly the 



OUR AIM 19 

organism in regaining its harmonious functions 
when lost. And hygienic measures are curative in 
a certain sense, and the common forms of gymnas- 
tics may therefore well be considered in relation to 
actual disease. But the gymnastic teacher should 
not consider himself as a mechanical physician. 
Even if he possesses the adequate knowledge, which 
he but rarely does, there comes the practical im- 
possibility to apply the most effective therapeutic 
measures to classes. Diseases cannot be treated in 
wholesale. Each individual must be considered. 
Treatment must be individualized. That typical 
defects prevalent in a large percentage of our 
classes should receive due attention is true, but this 
does not vitiate the general statement. When a 
class of school children present a general picture 
of Kyphosis, we shall of course especially adapt our 
means to conquer it, as it is our duty to prevent the 
tendency to this deformity common in all classes. 
If we have to deal with a class of nurses or sales- 
women, we may expect a large percentage to have 
weak or flat feet. Naturally we will then lay added 
emphasis on suitable means to prevent or conquer 
that deformity. But it is not our duty to go 
around with an anxious eye to discover defects in 
each individual for the purpose of curing them. 
If our work shall be directed to the benefit of the 



20 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

great majority we meet, we must adapt our means 
to the average normal individual, not to the perfect 
one, but just to the average one with tendencies to 
defects in many directions, but with no developed 
diseases or deformities. Those who have such de- 
veloped diseases should be weeded out from the gen- 
eral class by suitable medical examination, and sub- 
jected to the treatment best adapted to them. One 
of the means may be gymnastics, individual or in 
classes. But that is then a specialized form that is 
distinguished from the usual classwork, the consid- 
eration of which is a matter distinct from the pur- 
pose of this work. 

Persistent exercise is necessary to gain or main- 
tain that dexterity required in many trades or 
professions. The prestidigitator will soon lose his 
skill if he takes too many days off. The piano 
player becomes master of technique only by constant 
practice; the carpenter learns to hit the nail un- 
erringly, to plane the board to a right angle, only 
by practice; the danseuse must practise daily. 
Such specific preparation has usually no connec- 
tion with our work, though it may have. If we 
have to deal with a class of firemen, for instance, 
it seems but natural that even though the funda- 
mental exercises were similar to those used in a 
class of clergymen, we would in the former case 



OUR AIM 21 

use a number of applications which would be closely 
related to the business of the men. Many forms 
of climbing, wall-scaling, and balancing at great 
heights, might be suitable. 

A considerable number of persons believe that it 
is our duty to practise in the gymnasium such move- 
ments as exercises which all of us might perform in 
daily life. They say, for instance, that everybody 
bends forward many times each day. They should 
then be taught in the gymnasium to do this with 
the least expenditure of energy. Everybody must 
walk upstairs several times a day. We should 
teach them to do this, so that waste and injury be 
prevented. Everybody sits down on a chair and 
rises many times a day. Teach the students to do 
so properly. I cannot agree to this view. If we 
give general power of coordination, if we teach our 
pupils to husband their resources and expend their 
energy economically, we need not make the applica- 
tion in all the common activities of life. We may 
safely leave that application to the unconscious 
training of life. Our duty to counteract general 
vicious tendencies is paramount, not to deal with 
special cases. 

To summarize : Gymnastics , such as we have to 
consider, is primarily for the hygienic purpose of 
creating correct habits of posture and movement, in 



22 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

order that vigor may be maintained at the highest 
possible level, and of preventing the evils of any 
one-sided activity. In doing this, we shall, as far 
as is possible without interfering with our chief pur- 
pose, furnish recreation, correct common defects 
and create desire for activity, always furnishing a 
quantity of activity sufficient to maintain a high 
degree of vigor. 




Fig. 5. 
A simple position involving static activity in the dorsal region. 

(See page 85.) 




Fig. 6. 

Errors of form commonly seen when an attempt is made to 

assume the position indicated in Fig. 5. (See page 86.) 



CHAPTER II 

THE PRINCIPLE OF GYMNASTIC SELECTION 

In the discussion of the benefits which we may 
reasonably expect from physical training, we have 
already seen that different aims necessitate the use 
of different means. When our main object is of 
that special hygienic nature which we have en- 
deavored to define, we must turn to the formal gym- 
nastics instead of rivetting our attention to play, 
games and sports, however necessary parts of a 
complete physical training these may be. 

When we now turn to a consideration of gym- 
nastics as a part of physical training, w r e imme- 
diately find that a new selection is necessary. All 
possible formal movements cannot be utilized with 
equal benefit. A sifting process must be under- 
taken. There is no difference of opinion in this 
regard. All agree that the object in view cannot 
be attained without a careful choice of exercises. 

The principle of gymnastic selection is thus uni- 
versally recognized. But as men differ as to the 
most important aims to be reached, so they natu- 
rally employ different means, and though all sys- 

23 



24 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

terns accept the principle of selection, the practical 
application of this principle varies according to the 
view point. He who considers that gymnastics 
must first and foremost counteract and supplement 
the daily activities, must differ in his practical work 
from him who sees in gymnastics a preparatory 
training for these activities. There is a strong 
tendency among partisans of one system or the 
other to ascribe differences in procedure to the 
ignorance of the opponents, when they in reality 
are based upon different conceptions of the funda- 
mental object of the gymnastic instruction. 

When we now proceed to exemplify the principle 
of gymnastic selection, we do so with the under- 
standing that the chief aim is the special hygienic 
one, and that our selection is not binding on any 
one who differs from us in this fundamental mat- 
ter. To those who do not segregate gymnastics as 
a distinct part of physical training, with specific ob- 
jects which can be gained better by gymnastics than 
by the other branches, but who believe that all forms 
of physical training fill exactly the same needs, 
we cannot speak intelligently. Our fundamental 
thoughts differ. 

The hygienic effects being foremost in our mind, 
external hygienic conditions, — proper air, light, 
clothing, sufficient time for the lessons, proper re- 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 25 

lation of the hour of the lesson to meals and sleep- 
ing hours, to the nature of the studies immediately 
preceding and immediately succeeding it, etc., etc., 
should of course demand our closest attention. I 
pass over the matter here because there is a fair 
degree of unanimity in our circles as to what is 
necessary in these regards, even if the requirements 
are not usually fulfilled. I cannot refrain from 
saying that the need for an abundance of fresh air 
and light should call the gymnastic teacher out of 
doors with his classes much more frequently than 
is the case as present. It is not here a question 
of substituting out-door play for the gymnastic les- 
son; it is a question of taking the gymnastics out 
of doors. Every gymnastic teacher who has at 
his disposal a free open-air space, even if it be no 
larger than his gymnasium floor, should utilize it 
whenever he is not obliged to be indoors. 

The indoor gymnastics should be the exception, 
not the rule. In southern England, Mme. Berg- 
man Osterberg has a Normal school of physical 
education, where all lessons are taken out of doors 
except on about a dozen days each year, when the 
severity of the weather forces the class under cover. 
That is as it should be. When a Normal school has 
such a policy, then it becomes ingrained in the grad- 
uates that indoor work may be a necessary evil, 



26 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

sometimes, but it is always an evil. I believe the 
reason that we do not have more gymnastics out 
of doors is simply inertia. We are used to the 
routine indoors, and to break the routine requires 
some little energy. Many of us are also so wedded 
to particular forms of apparatus, that we fear to 
work without them. Let us work for outdoor gym- 
nasia with all the apparatus to which we are habit- 
uated indoors; but if we cannot get them, let us 
remember that the only absolutely necessary ap- 
paratus for good work is the human body. And 
if we have no other apparatus, let us utilize that 
under the most favorable condition, — out of doors. 

Given the necessary hygienic conditions, we must 
study the exercises themselves and their physiologi- 
cal effects in order to make our selection. 

It is common knowledge with every boy who 
takes any interest whatever in physical exercises 
that activity gives to the muscles increased strength, 
and that this strength is, in some way or other, re- 
lated to the size of the muscle. And with pride 
he points out his gain in this respect. He often 
works with the aim in view to build up his muscles. 
He wants to be strong. He desires muscles which 
swell powerfully with each contraction. He 
glories in increased measurements. This seems 
quite natural. But is it equally plain that it shall 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 27 

be our duty to encourage him to develop special 
strength? We know of course that every one 
should have muscles of such strength as will en- 
able him to fulfill life's duty. We know that the 
muscles are the executive organs, without which no 
work can be performed. We know that moder- 
ately strong muscles are necessary for the main- 
tenance of health, vigor and virility. We know 
that if we have weak and flabby muscles, not only 
does our health suffer, but our intellect is apt to 
remain potential only; our morality is apt to be of 
that flabby kind which finds no expression in deeds. 
But have we any right to suppose that the bene- 
fits due to muscular development accumulate ad 
infinitum? Have we any basis for an opinion that 
the larger the muscles, the better the general health, 
the greater the general efficiency? And do we not 
as a matter of fact encourage that idea among our 
pupils, when we include a number of measurements 
of muscular girths in our anthropmetric tables, or, 
even if we do not directly encourage it, when we 
stand passively by while our pupils assiduously 
work for "improvement" in these measurements? 
Are we not responsible for the spreading of er- 
roneous ideas when men, whose names are house- 
hold words among us, and to whom the public looks 
up as leaders in physical training, arrange annual 



28 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

strength tests, in which the students are encouraged 
not only to partake, but for which they are urged 
specially to prepare themselves by piling up the 
muscular masses necessary to break the records? 

The strength tests have been taken up by college 
after college, of course with the tacit understand- 
ing that valuable benefits accrue from abnormal 
muscular strength. But where are the data upon 
which this opinion is based? Has any lucid state- 
ment ever been made of these supposed benefits? 
Or can such a statement be made? As long as we 
have no basis of facts upon which to support a be- 
lief in these hypothetical and vague benefits, it be- 
hoves us well to go slow and not encourage exercises 
tending to develop abnormal volume and strength 
of muscle. The time has passed when man must 
mainly rely on muscular strength to succeed in the 
struggle for existence and advancement. Moder- 
ate activity, well distributed, is sufficient to develop 
that volume and strength of muscle which are nec- 
essary to carry on the business of life easily. To 
develop more than is necessary is a dissipation of 
energy, just as much as in an industrial or social 
organization it is poor economy to provide for a 
greater executive or clerical staff than is absolutely 
necessary. The means of subsistence must come 
out of the earnings of the producing force. Un- 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 29 

necessarily large muscles sap the energy of the in- 
dividual. They direct to themselves an undue share 
of the nutriment, leaving less to carry on the func- 
tions of other organs, just as much as an unneces- 
sarily large standing army is a severe drain upon 
the producing force of Society. It is true that with 
the growth of the muscles, the organs which have 
to do with the nutrition adapt themselves to the in- 
creased demand. The stomach will digest food 
better than before ; the heart will increase its pump- 
ing force, and so on. It is upon this ground that 
the general hygienic effect of muscular exercise is 
based. But if all the increment in power of nutri- 
tion be expended in the maintenance of muscular 
bulk, nothing is gained in the direction where gain 
is most needed. The individual does not become 
a better functionating intellectual being, but sinks 
to the level of a muscular monstrosity. This has 
been pointed out so frequently, so persistently, by 
our most prominent thinkers, from Galen and Hy- 
pocrates to Herbert Spencer, that it is indeed re- 
markable that it is not yet universally heeded, but 
that not only the public, the uneducated public, 
turns with admiration to professional strong men, 
but that leaders among us still glory in the produc- 
tion of lists of "the one hundred strongest college 
students." 



30 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

Generally speaking, the necessary muscular 
strength is gained incidentally and we need not de- 
vise special exercises for the purpose of gaining it. 
We may, and shall, on the contrary, devote our at- 
tention to secure more important effects. Espe- 
cially may we consider it a superfluous, useless, and 
even detrimental labor to strengthen the muscles of 
the arms, the legs, and the pectoral groups. 

The arms and legs are usually sufficiently well 
developed muscularly to carry on their duties. If 
they are not, they will soon be so, if they are put to 
perform those duties, provided the general condition 
of health is satisfactory. But to take exercises on 
pulley-weights to develop the flexors of the arms, 
or to cause the pupil to rise on tiptoes from ten to 
a couple of hundred times in rapid succession in 
order to secure large calf muscles, or to tug at a 
wrist machine to strengthen the forearms, — these 
and similar procedures are not permissible. They 
are not conducive to health : they take up much valu- 
able time which might be very much better utilized ; 
their object, the increase of muscular strength 
should, so far as it is desirable, be secured with more 
natural, less mechanical procedures, — by climbing, 
by rowing, by walking, all of which have their legi- 
timate place in physical training. 

The pectoral groups are habitually employed in 




Fig. 7. 

A type of activity effective in preventing abduction of the shoulder 
blades. (See page 35.) 




Fig. 8. 
If the elbows and shoulder blades are allowed to move forward, 
the activity indicated in Fig. 7, becomes of little value. (See 
page 36.) 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 31 

daily activities. They are commonly as strong as 
the individual needs. To devise special exercises 
solely for their further development in strength is 
not only unnecessary and time robbing, — it brings 
on actual injuries, of which more anon. 

We are, however, warranted in developing mus- 
cular strength in such regions which, during our 
normal vocations, have a minimum of activity, or 
an activity which is of such a nature that thereby 
the harmonious development of the body, necessary 
for the best functioning of the vital organs, becomes 
destroyed. There are particularly three such re- 
gions. The abdominal wall is rarely called upon to 
perform any labor worth mentioning, gravity bend- 
ing the body forward. The abdominal muscles be- 
sides being inactive are also further relaxed because 
of the common attitude of forward flexion in sit- 
ting, standing or walking, or they are passively ex- 
tended by the equally common standing and walk- 
ing attitude with hips forward. The longitudinal 
dorsal muscles generally have a considerable amount 
of labor to perform. It is true that professional 
men who habitually sit at their desks supporting the 
weight of their bodies by their arms, give the back 
muscles a minimum of activity; but on the other 
hand the majority of people who perform any kind 
of physical labor call upon their back muscles for 



32 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

a large amount of work. The farmer may be con- 
sidered typical in this regard. His work is mainly 
performed in a more or less stooping attitude which 
necessitates strong activity of the back muscles, but 
the activity is generally combined with extension, 
rarely with complete shortening. Similarly is the 
case with the muscles adducting the shoulder blades 
to the spinal column. 

That function makes and modifies structure is 
only another way of asserting the adaptability of 
the body to the action of the environment. When 
a muscle is made to perform a certain amount of 
work, it accommodates itself to it. Its cross-sec- 
tion and strength increase until the limits set by 
constitutional conditions have been reached. If its 
activity again decreases, it undergoes an atrophy of 
disuse, — its cross section and strength diminish. 
But no less important, no less well known, though 
apparently very much less generally recognized in 
the practical work of the gymnast is its adapta- 
bility to the range of motion. Just as strength, — 
so far as it depends on the muscle itself — is essen- 
tially a matter of cross section, so the range of mo- 
tion is dependent on the length of the contractile 
elements. Now, if a muscle habitually contracts 
to the limit set for it by the anatomical construction 
of the joint involved, the nutrition seems to become 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 33 

distributed over the whole muscle belly. Its cross 
section increases and its strength grows; its length 
and range of motion remain normal. If, on the 
other hand, the contraction be limited in extent, Na- 
ture has no need of a muscle of that particular 
length. She gets rid of the superfluous length. 
An adaptation takes place, by which the muscle be- 
comes able to contract over just the distance de- 
manded of it, but no further. The muscle belly 
atrophies at the ends; parts of the contractile ele- 
ments degenerate into connective tissue; the belly 
grows shorter, while the tendons lengthen at the 
expense of the former. Under these conditions the 
range of motion is impaired ; nutrition may now be 
concentrated over a shorter distance, and a still 
further increase of cross section and strength, than 
under normal conditions, may take place. The 
muscle gains more in strength and loses in range 
by such incomplete contractions. 

But these incomplete contractions affect not only 
the muscles themselves but changes occur also in 
the articulation itself and in the periarticular tis- 
sues. Those parts of the joint-surfaces which are 
not utilized in motion lose their smoothness. The 
capsule and ligaments shrink. We have all the 
phenomena of a pseudoanchylosis, because of which 
the joint not only cannot be actively moved to its 



34 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

normal full limits, but there are mechanical obsta- 
cles even to passive motion. 

We see these phenomena frequently as a result 
of pathological conditions. We see it very com- 
monly in old age as a result of a limited degree of 
motion in which a person of old age habitually in- 
dulges. We see it in our laborer who, having 
grasped tools of various kinds for years, is unable 
to extend his fingers. We see it in our farmers, 
clerks, professional men and school children who, 
bent over their tasks for many hours each day, con- 
stantly employ the muscles on the front side of their 
thorax in incomplete contractions, with shortening, 
while their back and shoulder muscles are kept on 
the stretch, and who find when they endeavor to 
straighten up that it is impossible to do so. Make 
them try it, and they will bend backward in the 
lumbar region. Ask them to point with both hands 
straight up, and you will find the same backward 
tilt. Hang them by the hands, and the shoulder 
and hip joints will frequently be in front of the 
sternum. We find the same pseudoanchylosis in 
many of our athletes and gymnasts. Who is it 
among us who has not seen specialists on the hori- 
zontal bar or the rings unable to extend their el- 
bows? Who has not seen many addicted to im- 
moderate exercise on the parallel bars, who are 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 35 

unable to assume even the semblance of an erect 
attitude ? 

Gymnastic movements, to prevent the develop- 
ment of these deformities, should then, as a rule, be 
to the full extent allowed by the joints, except that 
in such regions where the daily life tends to cause 
shortening, complete contractions should be avoided, 
while we should insist on complete relaxation and 
stretching; and that in such regions where stretch- 
ing frequently takes place, we should emphasize 
complete contractions, and employ a good deal of 
static activity in order to secure the normal short- 
ening, at the same time that we should avoid ac- 
tivity when the muscles are stretched. 

Simple exercises effective in preventing, and cor- 
recting the abduction of the shoulder blades are 
movements of the upper arms in the plane of the 
shoulders or slightly behind it, such as placing the 
hands on the hips (Fig. 1), or behind the head 
(Fig 3), bending the elbows while maintaining the 
upper arms immobile or rotated outward (Fig. 5), 
raising the upper arms sideways until horizontal, 
with elbows well retracted and strongly flexed, ex- 
tension of the elbows from this posture, etc. (Fig. 

7). 

Errors of form are frequently committed in these 
simple preliminary exercises, which, apparently 



36 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

small and easily overlooked by the untrained eye, 
should not be allowed to pass uncorrected by the 
teacher, because they are sufficient to defeat our 
purpose. Such are: in the first exercise, to bring 
the elbows too far backward, by which the glenoid 
portions of the scapula* are rotated forward if the 
retractors of the scapula are not under extra good 
control (Fig. 2) ; in placing the hands behind the 
head, to bring the elbows in front of the shoulder- 
plane or to allow the head to be brought forward 
(Fig. 4) ; in arm-bending upward to allow the 
elbows to separate from the body, to bring the 
elbows backward, to place the hands on the chest 
(Fig. 6) ; in the arm-bending and stretching in 
the horizontal plane, to bring the elbows for- 
ward in the flexion, downward in the extension. 
(Fig. 8.) 

The back muscles are strengthened and shortened 
by efforts to incline the body forward from the 
hips while maintaining it straight, by the main- 
tenance of this inclined posture during movements 
of the arms, or by arching the body backward while 
lying prone with feet supported or unsupported, 
and the arms stationary in various positions or ex- 
ecuting such movements as have already been men- 
tioned. (Figs. 9-12.) 

Later, when a fair degree of control has been 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 37 

gained, arms should be extended above the head; 
and still later they might be brought forward. 

In bringing the arms up above the head, paral- 
lelism of the arms should not be insisted upon if 
the arms cannot be kept in the shoulderplane. It 
is much more effective to insist upon the latter 
feature but to allow some degree of divergence up- 
ward. 

To bring the arms forward when the retractors 
scapulae are so weak, so elongated, or so little under 
control that the scapulae glide forward unhampered 
on the thoracic wall during the motion of the arms, 
is detrimental to the best results. (Fig. 13.) So 
is also a trunkbending forward in which all the 
vertebral joints participate to the full extent. 
(Fig. 14.) These are exactly the kind of move- 
ments which are performed in daily life, which by 
their prevalence are the cause of the deformity, the 
prevention of which we should consider our duty. 
Bending forward in this manner and again stretch- 
ing, strengthens the back muscles to be sure, but 
they keep them elongated, and, in spite of every- 
thing, the deformity develops. Those forms of 
exercises should be excluded. 

In the exercises already mentioned we secure a 
strengthening of the back muscles and at the same 
time a more or less pronounced tension on the tis- 



38 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

sues in front. Both of these desirable effects are 
emphasized by freestanding trunkbendings back- 
ward, with the arms in various positions. (Fig. 
15.) In these there is a tendency to strive for con- 
siderable flexion with the result that practically all 
of it is localized in the lumbar region only, doing 
harm instead of good. This error is committed 
daily in hundreds of our gymnasia. The arching 
backward should be placed high up, with the arms 
brought well backward, and the lumbar region 
should participate only when the movement has 
been completed in the dorsal region as far as pos- 
sible. That group of exercises which the Swedes 
call Tense-bendings are probably unsurpassed for 
the purpose now under consideration. The cor- 
rect form with an even arch and thoroughly ex- 
tended arms requires strong static activity in the 
shoulder region and the ribs spread out fanlike in 
front in the most beautiful manner. (Fig. 16.) 

It should be noticed that all the examples hitherto 
given are selected because they place the body in 
the necessary posture by means of active muscular 
contraction. Any exercise which does this is of 
undoubted value. 

When looking for suitable means to counteract 
influences which tend to bring on shortening of tis- 
sues, or which may have brought on such a condi- 




Fig. 9. 

" The back muscles are strengthened and shortened by efforts to 
incline the body forward from the hips." (See 'page 36.) 




Fig. 10. 
Maintaining the arms upward intensifies the action indicated un- 
der Fig. 9. (See page 36.) 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 39 

tion, our minds turn quite naturally to means by 
which a more or less powerful extension of the 
shortened tissues may be brought about. The or- 
thopedic surgeons relied for many years nearly ex- 
clusively on passive extension, supplied by braces, 
plaster of Paris casts, leather corsets, etc., to con- 
quer such deformities as round shoulders and rotary 
lateral curvature of the spine. The method was 
futile, and has now gone out of use except in very 
exceptional cases, and active gymnastic treatment 
has been largely substituted. It is not too much 
to say that considerable credit for this change is 
due to gymnasts. And still we observe procedures 
used in our gymnasia as preventative means which 
exactly correspond to those discarded by the sur- 
geons. One example is the lying on the quarter 
circle. This is supposed by many to be effective in 
preventing or even curing round shoulders. But 
this is a mere delusion. The anterior tissues are 
certainly relaxed by the posture on the apparatus, 
and if maintained so for several hours daily there 
is no doubt about its efficacy in preventing the de- 
velopment of the deformity. But the gymnasium 
should not be the place where passivity should be 
encouraged, and passivity of sufficient duration in 
that posture would become torture. The gym- 
nasium is the place for activity. Therefore the 



40 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

quarter circle is supplemented with an overhead 
pulley weight. This changes the apparatus from 
one of absolute uselessness into one whose good or 
evil effects depend on its use. If the arms, as is 
very commonly, if not generally, the case, are 
brought down in front of the body, it is the pectoral 
group which nearly exclusively enters into activity 
and we are by the exercise fortifying the evil effects 
of the predominant pectoral contraction of daily 
life. It then becomes a deforming influence. The 
arms may be so carried — well to the sides — that 
some real benefit may accrue, but this benefit can 
more easily be gained by other means and without 
any special apparatus being necessary. The quar- 
ter circle may be exiled from the gymnasium with- 
out loss. That it still retains its place notwith- 
standing its very limited usefulness would be 
inexplicable, were it not for our usual disinclina- 
tion from breaking with the common routine. 

Numerous exercises are practised in the gym- 
nasium which have exactly the contrary effect from 
that which is expected from them because of their 
mere external form. The so-called "Hammock 
hang" is an example of these. (Fig. 17.) The 
body with face downward is suspended by means 
of hands and feet. The arms are thus brought 
to extreme abduction backwards carrying the 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 41 

shoulders with them, while the spine is curved 
backward. Many expect that by such a posture 
round shoulders may be prevented or cured. But 
note that the abductory force here is not the re- 
tractors of the shoulder blades, or any muscular 
contraction whatsoever, but the posture is brought 
about solely by the action of gravity. The sup- 
posed correction of spine and shoulders is there- 
fore the result of the same force as in lying on the 
quarter circle. But here we have, besides, a strong 
contraction of the pectorals and anterior portion 
of the deltoids, necessarv in order to save the shoul- 
der joints from dislocation. This hanging exercise 
acts on the shoulder girdle exactly as an orthopedic 
brace — the muscles of the back which need strength- 
ening are placed in inactivity, while the anterior 
tissues, exercised to oppose the strain, will de- 
velop in strength, and consequently when released 
will be still stronger than before to pull the shoul- 
ders forward. The same is true of the so-called 
"rear hang" (Fig. 18), the "rear bent arm rest" 
(Fig. 19), circling from this posture, and others, 
which by the pectoral activity are deforming the 
chest instead of improving its form. And we need 
not turn for examples of this nature to these com- 
paratively severer forms. We may think of the 
exercises in which the wand is brought back of the 



42 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

shoulders or behind the hips, and allowed to rest 
there acting as a brace to overcome which the pec- 
torals contract. (Fig. 20.) We may call to mind 
that exercise in which two pupils face each other 
and holding each the ends of two long bars either 
above their heads or down at the sides, endeavor to 
force the opponent back, while the latter strongly 
resists by pectoral contraction. (Fig. 21.) Or 
we may think of how often we observe classes in 
which the pupils are made to place their hands be- 
hind their heads and then endeavor to bend the neck 
backward against the resistance of the pectorals. 
Examples of this nature can easily be multiplied. 

While such exercises as those hitherto mentioned 
are definitely injurious because of their very nature, 
there are a number of others which may be in- 
nocuous, beneficial, or injurious according to the 
manner of execution, apparently small variations 
in form totally reversing the effect. These varia- 
tions are frequently so small that the untrained eye 
fails to detect them, and many of our gymnastic 
teachers need to have their attention specially called 
to them. A fair example of these is "the dip," 
which enters as one of the usually prescribed feats 
in strength tests. If the flexion of the arms be 
done to moderate degree with the elbows moving in 
the shoulder plane, we get a simultaneous strong 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 43 

contraction in the pectorals, the latissimi and the 
retractors of the scapulae, which is beneficial in caus- 
ing chest-expansion and educating to a correct atti- 
tude. But if the arms be flexed to the extreme 
extent, usually encouraged in the strength tests, or 
if the elbows are brought considerably behind the 
shoulders as we frequently see it done, the posterior 
muscles relax, the weight of the body causes an 
extreme abduction of the arms, which is resisted by 
the pectorals, and we have an exercise developing 
the strength of the latter but at the same time com- 
pressing the chest. In the same category we may 
put all the other exercises which by the Swedes 
have received the generic name heave movements. 
Take the simplest of the .more typical group in this 
family, the mere hanging by the hands. If the 
weight be passively suspended from the arms (Fig. 
22) we get the passive extension which we have 
already spoken of as having practically a negligible 
value. If, on the other hand, all the muscles join- 
ing the trunk with the shoulder girdle and arms be 
contracted so that the body is lifted between the 
latter, we secure a judiciously distributed activity 
which is of the utmost value. (Fig. 23.) If now 
an arm bending be added the effect becomes still 
more pronounced, but its desirability is conditioned 
on the form maintained. If the elbows be carried 



U GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

in the shoulder plane there results a chest expan- 
sion and flattening of the shoulders of greatest 
value. (Fig. 24.) If the arms are allowed to 
move forward, as is usually done in "chinning," 
there follows chest depression, rounding of the back, 
and abduction of the shoulder-blades. (Fig. 25.) 
So executed, the exercise has no developmental 
value, but is causing direct injury. It is a mere 
"stunt." It is an exercise which may be defended 
by those who, in gymnastics, see the road towards 
creating desire for activity without taking account 
of the directly beneficial effect of this activity on 
the formation of the body ; but to those who believe 
that general educative influence should be gained 
by play and games, while the gymnastics shall have 
more specific effects, the exercise becomes an evil, 
and they should exclude it from their materia gym- 
nastica. As the complete abduction of the elbows 
.becomes very difficult with supinated hands if a 
rigid apparatus like a horizontal bar or boom be 
used, the exercise on these apparatus should pref- 
erably be done with pronated hands, while some 
yielding apparatus, like vertical ropes or rings, per- 
mitting the body to advance between them, should 
be chosen if we wish to "chin" with supinated hands. 
The same demands on a proper cooperation be- 
tween all the muscles of the shoulder girdle should 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 45 

be observed in all the heave movements. For in- 
stance, in fall hanging posture, and in arm-bending 
in that posture, the body should not be permitted to 
sink down while the shoulder blades advance upon 
the thorax, and the elbows should not be permitted 
to be brought forward (Figs. 26-27). For the 
same reason, we should exclude arm traveling for- 
ward, at least on a narrow apparatus like the boom, 
while flexion of the hips forward from a hanging 
posture should not be permitted without a firm sup- 
port behind the sacrum. Without this support, 
the body, because of the advance of the center of 
gravity, will swing backward causing a chest de- 
pression. 

These examples of selection as to form must suf- 
fice. But of no less importance is the question as 
to intensity and speed. 

In the selection of proper form, we have been 
obliged to consider not only the interaction of grav- 
ity and the motor muscles, but also the activity of all 
those muscular groups which serve to give proper 
direction and smoothness to the motion, and to 
those which furnish fixed points. We are gener- 
ally perhaps too prone to consider a motion as the 
result of a contraction in a single isolated group. 
As a matter of fact, however, every natural move- 
ment involves the cooperation of a large number 



46 GYMXASTIC PROBLEMS 

of muscles : motor, directors, fixators, which, in their 
cooperation, essentially determine the form; and 
the antagonists, the proper participation of which 
is determined greatly by the intensity and the speed 
of the contraction in the motor muscles. 

If a movement be done slowly, the antagonists 
participate less and less the greater the energy of 
the contraction in the motor-muscles. Thus if we 
slowly flex the elbow, the extensors contract with 
a force nearly equal to that of the flexors. But if 
we hold a heavy weight in the hand during the 
flexion, that weight serves to control the motion 
and the extensors are not needed. Thev relax com- 
pletely. If now the speed be greatly increased the 
flexor muscles must of course at the beginning ex- 
ert a greater force to set in motion the weight, while 
the extensors remain in inactivity. But when the 
motion has been well initiated, it is continued by 
its own momentum; the flexors may, and do, relax 
during the latter part of the motion. As the mo- 
tion approaches its natural limit, the momentum 
must be gradually overcome before it be checked 
by the construction of the joint. During the last 
part of the movement the extensors, therefore, in- 
voluntarily enter into a more or less violent con- 
traction, serving as buffers, without which trau- 
matisms may occur. Such traumatisms are not 




1— 1 






.a 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 47 

quite unknown in the field of physical training. 
The pitcher's shoulder frequently suffers from a 
traumatic arthritis, because he trains himself not 
to check the forward motion of the arm, in order 
that the greatest possible speed may be given to 
the ball. 

But excessive speed or energy are not necessary 
to cause this antagonistic resistance. If we men- 
tally prepare ourselves to reverse the motion im- 
mediately it has been completed, the mental atti- 
tude finds expression in an unconscious contraction 
of the antagonists long before the first phase of the 
movement is completed. Thus, in oscillatory move- 
ments, so commonly used in our gymnastics, and 
seemingly at present urged more earnestly by our 
psychologists than ever before, we find this taking 
place. In a consecutive series of flexions and ex- 
tensions, the flexors contract during the last half of 
the extension and during the first half of the flexion, 
but are relaxed during the last half of the flexion 
and the first half of the extension, and during their 
relaxation extensor activity is substituted. 

From these facts it may perhaps be permissible 
to draw some conclusions. 

It has been a time-honored custom to increase the 
muscular contraction by the use of external weights. 
For a long time heavy dumb bells were lifted and 



48 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

tossed in our gymnasia. That time has passed, 
and they are now relegated to the training quarters 
of professional strong men. May they remain 
there, until they finally land in the junk-shops. 
The discredit into which they have fallen was prob- 
ably due mainly to the interference of sustained ef- 
forts with proper respiration and circulation. The 
portable apparatus now in use, dumb bells, Indian 
clubs, wands, barbells, hoops, and so forth, are not 
employed, primarily at least, for the purpose of 
furnishing an increased resistance, though many 
voices praise them on that ground. They are sup- 
posed to be chiefly beneficial in adding a psychic 
element lacking in free exercises. It is considered 
that it is easier to maintain interest when the pupil 
has external objects to deal with than when he 
moves his own body, and that the slightly increased 
resistance furnishes clearer perceptions as to space 
relations. There seems to be something for the 
latter argument. The former, however, can but 
be fallacious. Poor indeed is the teacher who needs 
definite externalia to supplement the influence of 
his own personality. But, however that may be, it 
does not concern us in this connection. Here we 
shall confine ourselves to consider these apparatus 
as weights. Even if we acknowledge the great im- 
provement which has come with the substitution of 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 49 

light weights for heavy ones, we must still consider 
that an addition of half a pound to a pound in the 
hands of a small child is not without its influence. 
And when we know how severe a task it may be for 
a child in the second or third year of school to con- 
tract sufficiently to move the unweighted arms, in 
such paths as we may reasonably demand, we must 
deplore that many of even our best manuals recom- 
mend these extra weights. If the argument for 
them because of a greater ease of perception forma- 
tion holds good, the problem still remains unsolved 
whether the benefits in this regard are not more 
than counterbalanced by the nervous and muscular 
strain brought about. 

It may now be remarked that this strain is not so 
great as may appear, because the exercises with 
these apparatus as usually performed are only mo- 
mentary contractions, the different phases of the 
movements not being separated by distinct pauses 
but imperceptibly melting one into the other, and 
that we consequently deal with the kind of oscil- 
latory activity in which the antagonistic muscles 
alternate quite rapidly, giving sufficient time for re- 
covery. But this is just the strongest argument 
which can be made against the usual exercises with 
portable apparatus. Just because of the rapidity 
with which the movements follow each other, they 



50 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

rarely induce complete contractions, and are there- 
fore not the proper means by which the nutrition 
can be distributed over the whole muscle, but are 
conducive to short and bulky muscles. To get the 
best results from exercises with external weights, 
in fact to get any good results at all, the movements 
must be done only with moderate speed— less speed 
than corresponding free movements, — and the end 
of each phase of the exercise must be well marked. 

If the adding of the small weight of the present 
dumb bells should be well considered before they 
be employed in the exercises of small children, this 
reason does, of course, not affect their use by ado- 
lescents and adults. To them half a pound weight 
is of less importance, and if we wish to use them, 
we need only avoid adding unduly to their weight 
and observe the rule as to the necessity of com- 
pleting each phase of an exercise before another is 
allowed to begin. 

For the more mature ages, every "well-equipped" 
gymnasium has a large number of pulley weights. 
The matter of what apparatus to use is a question 
of very, very small importance. The salient point 
is the manner of its use. There are no qualities 
inherent in an apparatus which can justify us in 
commending or condemning it. It is only a ques- 
tion of convenience and adaptability. If anybody 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 51 

has a special predilection for a given apparatus, he 
certainly should utilize it, whatever others may 
think of its value. The manner in which he uses it 
is of the utmost importance. But what benefit can 
anybody get out of pulley weights? There is no 
desirable form of movement that we can give with 
the help of them that we cannot give more con- 
veniently and as energetically with other apparatus 
or without any apparatus whatsoever. They are 
supposed to be very valuable in helping to localize 
the contraction. Their efficacy in this regard is 
certainly very much exaggerated. And every one 
must admit that the usual manner in which they are 
employed is provocative of more harm than good. 
To gain benefit from them a good attitude should 
be maintained. Generally speaking, more atten- 
tion is now paid to that side of the question, so that 
criticism of errors committed is more or less out 
of place. But the same requirements as to com- 
pleteness of contraction, the pause at the end of 
one phase of the movement, and moderation of 
speed, are necessary with this apparatus as with 
dumb bells, and in this matter no noticeable change 
has been made during, let us say, the last fifteen 
years. 

To recapitulate : The selection of exercises con- 
cerned with the form of the back and shoulder re- 



52 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

gion must be such that the dorsal muscles and the 
retractors of the scapulae become strengthened and 
shortened, while the tissues in front of the chest be- 
come elongated. 

By these means we train the system so that good 
form may be retained unconsciously during our 
common activity. A person well-trained in gym- 
nastics of this kind will, for instance, assume a writ- 
ing posture like Fig. 28, instead of that in Fig. 
29. 

We thereby cause a permanent enlargement of 
the thoracic cage. This effect should be further 
emphasized by exercises causing mechanical eleva- 
tion of the ribs, such as raising of the arms and 
suspensions from the hands (always with straight 
back and well-retracted shoulders), and by volun- 
tary respirations. Exercises in running are also 
excellent for enlargement of the thorax, due care 
of course being given to the duration and frequency. 
The adolescent of course can sustain a much greater 
effort in this regard than the child or the middle- 
aged man. And everybody of whatever age gains 
the greatest chest expansion by judiciously employ- 
ing both running and so-called respiratory exercises. 

A proper carriage of the upper part of the body 
immediately changes the contour of the abdomen, 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 53 

which we have already said is the second part need- 
ing our special attention. 

The enlargement of the chest causes the ascent 
of the abdominal viscera by an increase in the 
thoracic aspiration, and, the ribs being lifted, the 
abdominal wall itself is made to serve in its natural 
role as a support for the viscera. But it needs also 
strengthening. Without it the lumbar curve is 
apt to become enlarged. Exercises involving the 
contraction of the abdominal walls must therefore 
be selected, and the same care should be given to 
their proper execution as to those of the back and 
shoulders. There are several types of exercises 
which may properly be utilized for this purpose. 
The chief danger to be avoided by a proper selec- 
tion lies in the possibility of depression of the chest 
and curving forward of the spine by these exer- 
cises. To avoid this, we may choose such a posture 
as will passively maintain the ribs elevated and the 
body straight, as for instance hanging the pupils 
by the hands during a flexion of the legs upward, 
or during the execution of various movements of 
the legs while they are flexed upon the trunk. 
(Fig. 30.) In speaking of these movements with 
regard to their effects on the thorax, we have al- 
ready pointed out the difference as to the chest 



54 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

when the sacrum is supported and when the body 
hangs free. 

Another and more important means to obviate 
the possibility of chest depression is the active main- 
tenance of a straight back and retracted shoulders 
during the abdominal activity. If now it be the 
intention to affect the abdominal muscles by a 
flexion of the trunk upon the legs from a lying 
posture, it is evident that the preponderance in 
weight of the trunk over the legs will make the 
movement executed with a straight back impossible 
if the legs be not firmly supported. If this pre- 
caution has not been taken, the contraction of the 
flexors of the hips will raise the legs as being the 
most movable segment, or the body will be curled 
up forward. (Fig. 31.) Exercises in sitting with 
supported feet and the body inclined backward are 
to be recommended. True trunk-bendings back- 
ward strengthen the abdominal wall and the arch 
in the upper back prevents rib depression. But if 
carried to extreme, the lumbar curve will be ex- 
aggerated and the abdominal wall will be length- 
ened. These extreme bendings should therefore 
only be used comparatively little. Exercises in 
such a posture that the prone body rests upon the 
hands and feet are often done in such a manner 
that the body is allowed to sink down, the lumbar 




Fig. 13. 
Abduction of the shoulder blades commonly seen in exercises in- 
volving the " reach " position. (See page 37.) 



GYMNASTIC SELECTION 55 

curve becomes exaggerated and the abdominal mus- 
cles elongated. (Fig. 32.) A sufficient abdo- 
minal contraction easily corrects this error of form. 
(Fig. 33.) Among these exercises may well be 
classified bending and inclining the body sideways, 
and twisting. At the same time that they 
strengthen the abdomen, they are most important 
in maintaining and increasing the mobility of the 
thorax. The trunk twistings, to accomplish their 
purpose, must be done with fixed pelvis. Gener- 
ally they are erroneously done in such a manner 
that the pelvis and lower extremities partake in the 
twisting, the abdomen and thorax receiving very 
small benefit. 

The application of exercises selected with special 
reference to the effects upon the carriage and the 
abdominal wall should constitute the main part of 
the gymnastic lesson, if the object be, as we have 
maintained, the specific hygienic one of securing to 
the organs of nutrition the most favorable condi- 
tions for maintaining the health. To these should 
be added numerous exercises of applications both 
for the purpose of adding that large amount of 
physical activity without which vigor cannot be 
maintained, and to educate the pupils in economical 
modes of energy-expenditure. 

The selection of which we have spoken has dealt 



56 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

with the form, speed and energy of relatively sim- 
ple movements. These are the elements of which 
composite exercises should be built, and in the lat- 
ter there should enter no elements but the former, 
except, if I so might express myself, as the material 
binding the elements together. Thus we have, for 
instance, emphasized the necessity of avoiding chest 
depressors. It does not matter how composite, 
complex or difficult an exercise may be, we must 
still consider it to be a fundamental condition that 
it shall not cause a chest depression. But this 
should, of course, not prevent the use of an exercise 
which, upon the whole, is to be recommended, but 
which requires as a transient phase such a depres- 
sion. Transient intermediate depression has no 
evil effect, if it be not too frequently repeated. 
What is most important is the beginning and the 
end of each phase, those parts which we have said 
should be marked by a definite pause, even if small, 
and which gives to the movement its finish and gym- 
nastic character. 



CHAPTER III 

THE PRINCIPLE OF GYMNASTIC TOTALITY 

The principle of suitable selection is of prime 
importance to the gymnast. An immense number 
of possible movements, either because of their 
direct injuriousness or because of the lack of direct 
usefulness, must be weeded out. But there still 
remains an immense material in which order must 
be brought if we shall ever hope to gain control of 
it. We must undertake to bring together those 
exercises which resemble each other in all main 
features, separating them from others with which 
they have little in common. No science is possible 
without classification of the material with which 
it deals. No science of gymnastics can ever grow 
up if we do not endeavor to classify the exercises. 
It being well understood that the exercises them- 
selves are not the end, but the effects they produce, 
it immediately becomes evident that the only satis- 
factory basis for such a classification is to be sought 
in these effects. A classification based on mere ex- 
ternal form, or upon the apparatus used, or on any 
other incidental similarity or dissimilarity can have 

57 



58 GYMXASTIC PROBLEMS 

but small value to him who wishes to study his sub- 
ject. To him the effects are the important mat- 
ter, and by such a classification forms are brought 
together which vary greatly in their effects. So, 
though we may loosely speak of free exercises and 
apparatus work, of head movements, and leg move- 
ments, of wand exercises and dumb bell exercises, 
of parallel bar exercises, of exercises on the horse, 
we must remember that this is not a classification 
into natural families. A perfectly proper classifi- 
cation on the other hand is one sometimes used, by 
which exercises are divided into exercises for 
strength, for coordination, for speed, for endurance, 
for attention, etc. It has the great advantage also 
of denoting, by the very name given to the groups, 
the desired effects, a condition which is of no mean 
value. But it does not satisfv our needs, if we con- 
sider the chief aim of gymnastics, the main effects 
sought, to be the influences on the organs of nutri- 
tion. A group of exercises for strength can not 
be admitted by him who looks upon the acquirement 
of muscular strength by gymnastic exercises as a 
mere incident, and to whom increased muscular 
strength in its highest degree is an evil, rather than 
a benefit. "Exercises for coordination" can hardly 
be admitted even though coordination is a benefit 
well worth striving for, because such admittance 



GYMNASTIC TOTALITY 59 

opens the way to that endless coordination for 
which de Paspee made himself an advocate, and 
the teacher will find the utmost difficulty in finding 
his way among the rocks of "all possibility," if 
it be not clearly indicated that the coordination that 
he is required to develop is only the coordination 
into simple basic exercises, while the power of more 
complex coordination shall be supplied in the appli- 
cations in the gymnasium, on the play ground and 
in daily life. So all through the list. 

The classification that we need for guidance in 
our labor for the all rounded development of the 
individual, in which his health plays the chief part, 
must be founded upon the effects that the exercise 
have upon the vital organs and their functions. 
An ideal classification would be one which grouped 
together in indissoluble union such exercises which 
affected a given function in definite manner. We 
have not yet reached that stage of knowledge, and 
it is possible that we never may reach it. In the 
meantime a classification which fulfills quite far 
reaching demands in this direction, has been es- 
sayed by the Swedes. They have brought together 
at all events the chief exercises, to which no objec- 
tions can be raised, into natural families, each of 
which differs from the others in their main effects, 
while all exercises belonging to a given family have 



60 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

the main effects in common, though they vary in 
minor details. Whether apparatus be used for an 
exercise or not is not considered in the classifica- 
tion. In the same group may well be brought an 
exercise without apparatus, an exercise on hori- 
zontal bar, on the parallel bars, on the boom, on the 
ladderwall, on rings, provided they all affect some 
definite function or functions in essentially the 
same manner. There seems no doubt that the class- 
ification to be generally accepted in the future must 
be on such a basis. The classification still common 
in this country into " light" and "heavy" gym- 
nastics, into "dumb bell exercises" and "Exercises 
on the bar," "on the long horse," "on the side horse" 
has no value whatever from a scientific view point 
though it may be a matter of convenience to him 
who devotes himself to gymnastics as a mere art. 

One objection has been raised against the classi- 
fication by the Swedes, concerning not the kernel 
but the mere shell. The names chosen for the 
"natural families" are not such that by them we 
are immediately led to the thought of the effects. 
If you have no knowledge before hand of the 
underlying basis, no very vivid idea of the desired 
effects is conveyed to you by such terms as "tense 
bendings," "heave-movements," etc. When we 
hear somebody speak of an "Exercise for strength," 




Fig. 14. 
"Trunk bending forward in which all of the vertebral joints par- 
ticipate is detrimental to the best results." (Compare with 
Fig. 10.) 



GYMNASTIC TOTALITY 61 

we immediately know his aim. But after all, if the 
grouping is definite and based upon a correct con- 
ception, the mere names matter little. They are 
made for students not for outsiders. And in all 
sciences terms are used which to the outsiders con- 
vey no idea. Nobody but those who have studied 
chemistry, at least superficially, can understand 
that H 2 stands for water, nor does anybody but 
an electrician know what is meant by "Ohm," 
"Volt," and "Ampere." 

Provided now that we have classified our ma- 
terial according to its effects upon the organism, 
and provided 'further that we strive for an all round 
development, it follows that no one of these natural 
families ought to be practised to the exclusion of 
others, but that by a judicious choice from the vari- 
ous families we shall endeavor to influence all or- 
gans and all functions to the degree of their needs 
We shall keep in mind that harmony between the 
functions is our goal, that all sides of human nature 
must be influenced by us, that general efficiency is 
what we strive for, not extreme ability in one direc- 
tion. 

In the application of this principle, the Swedes 
demand that each lesson shall contain as great a 
variety of exercises as is possible, and in order to 
make the all sidedness complete, they make each 



62 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

lesson contain at least one representative of each 
natural family, if insurmountable obstacles do not 
prevent. 

Every lesson should, if possible, be directed to 
improvement in all the desired directions. Each 
lesson must consist of as rich material as we pos- 
sibly can give. We shall not consider it sufficient 
to devote our attention to the shoulder-girdle to- 
day, to the abdomen to-morrow. But the whole 
man must be considered in each lesson. The pupil 
must in each lesson be influenced to the better in 
all the different ways that we can. Each lesson 
should give a sample of all that we can offer by 
gymnastics. The samples must vary from day to 
day, but the main types must recur in every les- 
son. 

This demand of allsidedness in each lesson is 
made by no other system. Is it advantageous or 
not? The answer can only be given upon the basis 
of experience. The adherents of that system claim 
good results. Their claims are supported by many 
students. A friend of mine representing a dif- 
ferent system claims that there is an absolute neces- 
sity for bringing into a lesson a large number of 
exercises, essentially alike, differing only in small 
details, in order that thereby the proper coordina- 
tion may be speedily acquired. He claims that the 



GYMNASTIC TOTALITY 63 

Swedish gymnasts never learn to do more than a 
few exercises, simply because they flit from one 
kind to another in each lesson. We shall not deal 
with that question here. Controversies of that na- 
ture never come to any result. "A man convinced 
against his will retains the same opinion still." Be 
it sufficient to ask the question if the lesson has for 
its purpose to teach gymnastic exercises? Is it 
your object to create gymnasts? In other words — 
are the gymnastic exercises, and the skill displayed 
in them, the ultimate end for which you work? If 
it is, then choose the methods giving the greatest 
ability in the shortest time, whatever that may be. 
If it is not, then it matters little whether a large 
number of exercises have been learnt or not, if you 
only have accomplished your object. Let us look 
at a typical lesson from some authoritative work. 
Here is one with Wands. 

I. 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

£. Left in front over. 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 
II. 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

2. Right in front over. 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 
III. 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 



64 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

£. Left in front over, right downward. 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 
IV. 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

2. Right in front over, left down. 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 
V. 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

2. Left in front over, on right shoulder. 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 
VI. 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

%. Right in front over, on the left 
shoulder. 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 
VII. 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

2. Left in front over and right in front 

over. 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 
VIII. 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

2. Left in front over, right upward. 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 
IX. 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

2. Right in front over, left upward. 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 



GYMNASTIC TOTALITY 65 

X. 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

2. Left in front (Middle of the chest), 

right downward. 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 
XL 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

2. Right in front (Middle of the chest), 

Left downward. 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 
XII. 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

2. Left in front (Middle of the chest) 

right upward. 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 
XIII. 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

2. Right in front (middle of the chest) 

left upward. 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 
XIV. 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

2. Left upward, right downward. (The 

arms remain extended). 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 
XV. 1. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

2. Right upward, left downward. 

3. (Straight arms) In front forward. 

4. Down. 4 counts 



66 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

XVI and XVII. Same as XIV and XV, with 
both arms bent in vertical position in front 
in the second count. 

This is a comparatively simple program, in fact it 
is supposed to be the seventh lesson. But it con- 
sists of seventeen exercises each of four counts, or 
a total of sixty-eight movements of the shoulders 
without any intermediate action of legs or trunk. 
With the repetitions necessary to secure an execu- 
tion satisfactory to the teacher, it is probably well 
within the limits of probability that the actual num- 
ber of movements performed rather exceed than fall 
below two hundred. That all these movements are 
in front of the body, of the same general nature as 
those performed in daily life and as such represent 
onesided activity without corrective influence does 
not here concern us. That is a matter of selection. 
The question you shall answer each to himself is 
this: Is it to the best interests of the organism 
that this comparatively large number of movements 
of the same part of the body shall be made without 
intervening rest or activity of other parts ? 

Let us look upon one more lesson from the same 
authoritative work, this time choosing the first les- 
son on the horizontal bar. 



GYMNASTIC TOTALITY 67 

Stand directly under the bar ; the bar and a line drawn 
through the shoulders run parallel. Jump into 

1. Handhang; overhold, jump off. Repeat several 
times. 

2. As exercise 1 with underhold ; also 1 and 2 alternately. 

3. As exercise 1, with twist underhold. 

4. Stand as before at the left end of the bar; jump to 
overhang; overhold; travel sideways right by moving 
the right hand four or five inches sideways, following 
with the left. Jump off. 

5. The same opposite. 

6. As exercise 4 and 5 with underhold; also with twist 
underhold. 

7. As exercise 4 and 5 in a bent arm hang with under- 
hold; also with overhold. 

8. As exercise 4, moving both hands simultaneously, 
bending the arms slightly immediately before the 
change. 

9. As exercise 8 with underhold also in bent arm hang. 

10. A handhang; overhold; change the right hand to un- 
derhold; also left hand; repeat several times; jump 
off. 

11. As exercise 10, changing both hands immediately to 
underhold; bending the arms just before the change. 

12. A handhang; overhold; raise the right knee forward 
and lower in two counts ; the same left. 

13. As exercise 12, alternately in four counts. 

14. As exercise 12, raising both knees and lower. 



68 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

15. As exercise 12, 13 and 14, in a bentarm hang, with 
overhold or underhold, raising the straight legs for- 
ward. 

16. Bend and straighten the arms as often as possible, 
first with underhold, then with overhold. 

17. At the right end of the bar handhang; overhold; 
travel left sideways with a half turn left and right 
alternately. The right shoulder moves forward; the 
right hand takes overhold on the opposite side of the 
bar; the left retains underhold; then the same left 
forward. 

18. At the right end of the bar under hang; travel left 
sideways with a half turn backward; continue chang- 
ing from underhold to overhold alternately. 

This plan for a lesson gives opportunity for study 
in many directions. We might well consider, for 
instance, whether the selection of the "twistunder- 
hold" is a suitable one (Exercises 3 and 6), or 
the raising of the straight legs forward without 
support for the body, or the traveling sideways with 
turning forward. We might question the succes- 
sion of the movements, and we may first and fore- 
most ask for what kind of pupils is this first lesson 
intended. Is it for children just beginning? If 
so, what form can be expected from them in such 
exercises as 15 or 16? If it is intended for mature 




Fig. 15. 

" Pronounced tension of the tissues in front with shortening of the 

back muscles." (Compare with Fig. 3 4.) 



GYMNASTIC TOTALITY 69 

gymnasts, then we may well ask whether any spe- 
cial practice is needed in such exercises as 1, 2, 4 or 
5. But these are questions which do not concern 
us at present. We are now more interested in the 
fact that nominally 18, but in reality a still greater 
number of exercises, are used in succession, in all of 
which the body is suspended from the hands. Is 
this wise? Is this an example of the much vaunted 
variety? Is not this a procedure by which some 
parts must necessarily be slighted, while the active 
ones become exhausted? 

Because, though the shoulder-girdle may well be 
used for hanging exercises, though we have main- 
tained that the gymnastic lesson shall act as a coun- 
terbalance to the one-sided activity and shall con- 
tain exercises of a different nature to those used in 
daily life, we do not thereby mean that the normal 
functions shall be reversed. The shoulders may 
well be used for moderate exercises in handing, but 
to make a whole lesson of these exercises is certainly 
not consonant with common sense. The remark 
may be made that this program is not intended as a 
full lesson. That other exercises are to be prac- 
tised. I suppose that to be true. But 18 (or 
more) exercises practised with even such a small 
class as a dozen, and repeated a sufficient number 



70 GYMXASTIC PROBLEMS 

of times, occupies a considerable part of the lesson, 
and there will only be small time left for other im- 
portant forms. 1 

Those who build their lessons in this manner are 
of course fully alive to the greater benefit of, let 
us say, daily lessons of half an hour each, than of 
one weekly lesson of three hours, but they do not 
apparently agree with us that what is true of the 
body as a whole is equally true of each part. That 
just as the gymnastic work, to be most highly bene- 
ficial cannot be concentrated upon one lesson a 
week, so each part derives most benefit if it is called 
into activity every day rather than at long intervals 
even though the total amount be the same. 

This demand of the Swedes that, so far as cir- 
cumstances will allow, all important families shall 
be represented in each day's work, that no im- 
portant organ or function shall be overlooked or 
slighted, but that all shall receive attention corre- 
sponding to their importance and needs ; that single 

i Since writing the foregoing, my attention was called to an error 
committed by me, in as much as this so called "lesson" never was 
intended to be used as a lesson, but only to exemplify the develop- 
ment of a "theme." I earnestly regret this mistake on my part, 
which however is explicable enough. But the fact criticized is not 
changed. Any one may see in practical use daily actual lessons, 
which in no essentials differ from this developed theme, and which 
certainly do not recognize the principle of totality as seen by the 
Swedes. 



GYMNASTIC TOTALITY 71 

parts or organs shall not be put to extreme activity 
while others suffer from inactivity; that the train- 
ing given in each lesson shall not be onesided, but 
shall affect the whole body, the whole organism, the 
whole man, has been called the principle of gym- 
nastic totality. 

Circumstances may of course be such that there 
is absolute impossibility of adhering strictly to this 
demand. The time given for gymnastics may, for 
instance, be totally inadequate. Nobody would be 
able to present even one representative of each im- 
portant family to his class during the ten minutes 
granted by some school authorities for "Exercises 
in the Class Room." Under such conditions we 
must, of course, resort to makeshifts, but, then, the 
whole procedure is a makeshift and must be judged 
accordingly. The principle is not violated by 
necessary changes in its applications, though we 
should not forget it but always keep it before our 
minds so that we depart from it only so far as we 
are absolutely obliged to do. Some methods by 
which we may keep as close to the principle as pos- 
sible even when we cannot apply it in all details, 
will be mentioned later. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE PRINCIPLE OF GYMNASTIC UNITY 

Granted now that the principles of selection and 
totality be accepted, granted in other words that 
we must carefully choose our exercises, and, after 
classifying them into natural families according to 
their effects, apply a great variety of them in each 
lesson, we may well ask the question whether the 
representatives of the different families may be 
utilized in the day's lesson at haphazard, or whether 
it may not be possible to gain better results by 
following some definite sequence. This question 
forces itself upon us by observation in other fields. 
Darwin pointed out that every animal before a 
supreme effort instinctively makes numerous move- 
ments, which seem to serve the purpose of put- 
ting it in a favorable condition totally apart from 
the mere mechanical advantage of suitable pos- 
ture. The bull prepares for the attack by paw- 
ing the ground, and by brandishing his horns 
and by bellowing. The cat lashes his sides with 
his tail before springing on his prey. Even man 

73 



74 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

stretches when rising in the morning, and if he be- 
comes embroiled in a quarrel which may end in a 
fight, he shows a tendency to make movements with 
arms and legs which apparently serve no purpose. 
There seems to be some need to be filled by gesticu- 
lation of some kind. And we have more or less 
unconsciously, perhaps, made application to this 
in various ways. The race horse is put through a 
preliminary canter before he is called upon to exert 
himself in the race. The baseball players always 
take their preliminary practice, before the game 
begins. They are warming up. It is a usual ex- 
perience that a man who wishes to test his strength 
by the dynanometer shows greater power on a sec- 
ond trial than on the first one. Physiologists have 
established by laboratory experiments that the first 
muscular contraction in a series is not quite so 
strong or complete as those immediately succeed- 
ing, but that there is a preliminary rise in the curve 
before it descends as a result of fatigue. It is now 
quite common in the gymnasium to begin with some 
"warming up" exercises, before work of greater in- 
tensity is begun. The general usefulness of some 
form of introductory exercises is well established 
and we may well assert without fear of serious con- 
tradiction that the day's lesson must begin with 
mild exercises. It is not necessary to cite the prob- 




Fig. 16. 

A "tense bending" secures static activity in the shoulder region, 

and the ribs spread out fanlike in front. (See page 38.) 



GYMNASTIC UNITY 75 

able physiological reasons for this, but simply to 
refer to experience. 

On the other hand, it is practically and equally 
well established that if violent and prolonged ef- 
forts are made to the very limit of the individual's 
powers, a sudden cessation of the activity is less 
favorable than a gradual decrease. From the 
pathological field experiences in this regard may be 
quoted. Suppose, for instance, that a person with 
an organic heart trouble makes strong and con- 
secutive efforts. Records are not rare of men with 
cardiac affections falling dead while in the very act 
of lifting a heavy weight. But it is surely not so 
common that a man has met his fate while running. 
It is when he has reached his goal, when he has 
taken his seat, when the activity has ceased, that the 
weakened heart fails to respond to the calls upon 
it. I know of no authoritative physiological ex- 
planation of this, so I have endeavored to theorize 
for my own satisfaction and my ideas run about as 
follows: The circulation is carried on mainly by 
three agencies, the heart, the respiration, and the 
muscular encroachments upon veins and lymph- 
atics. During the run all of these three agencies 
are at work to their utmost capacity. With the 
sudden cessation of activity the last one is with- 
drawn and a greater amount of work therefore falls 



76 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

upon the others, because the circulation is not im- 
mediately restored to its normal rate. The heart 
was assumed to be worked to its utmost. It now 
gets more to do, and it fails. If instead the mus- 
cles are kept working with a descending intensity 
they continue their pumping effects, and the heart 
gradually adjusts itself until the danger-point is 
passed. 

But we do not deal with pathological conditions. 
We have normal individuals to deal with and should 
draw our experience from such. If we again turn 
to the race track, we find that experience has taught 
the jockey not to stop as he has passed the finishing 
line but to walk his racer about at least for a few 
minutes "to cool off." Many a careful trainer does 
not allow the athlete who comes in exhausted from 
a long run to follow his inclinations and flop down 
on the field as he crosses the line, but, with a 
sweater thrown over him, he is made to walk up and 
down even against his will, dragged along, maybe, 
by some friend, until he has recovered to some ex- 
tent. Now, in the gymnasium, we do not, and 
should not, drive our students to the point of col- 
lapse. But it is our business to have them make 
strong efforts and both respiratory and cardiac ac- 
tions may thereby, to a certain extent, be embar- 
rassed, while the heat of the body is increased. If 



GYMNASTIC UNITY 77 

after these efforts, intellectual labor shall be re- 
sumed in sitting posture, may it not be well to take 
the precaution of letting the system gradually quiet 
down and cool off, whereby is also gained the ad- 
vantage of bringing the pupils into fit condition to 
resume their studies immediately with the best re- 
sults ? Because nobody just in from severe physical 
activity can do his best mental work. Some min- 
utes must elapse before the system has readjusted 
itself to the changed conditions. 

Our conclusions are therefore that just as we 
should not begin our work with exercises requiring 
the strongest efforts, neither should we let these 
come at the very end of the lesson, but they should 
be followed by some forms of milder intensity suit- 
able to allow the heart and lungs to approach their 
normal degree of activity, and to allow the surface 
temperature to decrease. 

This procedure seems in principle to be accepted 
by a very large number of Physical Directors. 
And still they plan their lessons in such a way that 
the energy curve shows a steady rise to the very 
end. They explain it by pointing out that the 
march from the gymnasium to the class room, or 
the walk to the dressing rooms and the motions in- 
volved and the time spent, in the changing of 
clothes, and the common use of the bath after the 



78 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

gymnastics makes special quieting exercises un- 
necessary. My answer to this is, that if the ne- 
cessity for some agency of a quieting nature be 
conceded, then it is the duty of the teacher to see 
to it that the necessary exercises are taken before 
the class gets out of his control. He should not 
rely upon what the pupils are doing afterward, in 
their dressing rooms, etc. That which is necessary 
should be done during the lesson, not be left to the 
capricious conduct of the pupils afterward. And 
I have heard no reason advanced against employing 
a few mild exercises at the end of the lesson. The 
only reason given by anybody seems to be that it is 
not absolutely necessary. Those who do not see 
the necessity for it have a perfect right to omit 
them. But those who believe that it favors the 
well-being of the pupils must not throw the re- 
sponsibility upon the pupils themselves. 

One more example. It is a common experience 
that fine coordination is impossible after severe ef- 
fort. You cannot draw well immediately after 
having chopped wood or rowed a mile or two at a 
good rate. You have not the necessary control of 
the finer movements. That observation can easily 
be made by any one even if it is not already a mat- 
ter of every one's experience. If the gymnastic 
lesson is to contain exercises requiring fine adjust- 



GYMNASTIC UNITY 79 

ments as well as those calling for muscular strength 
and effort, it seems justifiable that the former 
should precede the latter, not vice versa. 

We thus observe that our common experience 
tells us that, to gain the best results, it is not suffi- 
cient that the exercises be well-selected and all- 
sided, but that some attention must be paid to the 
sequence in which they follow each other in the les- 
son. In other words, the individual exercises must 
not be considered as perfectly independent, sepa- 
rate, and distinct entities having no connection with 
each other, no bonds of union, but as parts of an 
organic whole, a unity, having relations to each 
other, being dependent on each other, and mutually 
assisting each other to influence in the most favor- 
able manner another organic whole, another unity, 
the individual, in which also closely dependent 
parts exist. It is not enough to see to it that we 
give only exercises which are beneficial in them- 
selves. It does not suffice that we say to ourselves 
that we have applied exercises to improve all the 
main functions and organs. We must also consider 
whether all these well-chosen exercises form a har- 
monious lesson in the sense that one does not annihi- 
late or unduly multiply the effects gained by the other 
by being placed in a false time relation to it. This 
is what we call The Principle of Gymnastic Unity. 



CHAPTER V 

THE COMPOSITION OF THE LESSON 

The plan of the lesson should be built upon these 
three principles, which are accepted by a large num- 
ber of directors, while others are slowly but none 
the less surely drifting toward them. Exactly how 
the selection shall be made, exactly what functions 
or organs shall be considered so important that they 
shall have special attention every day even when 
time or other circumstances prohibit us from giving 
more or less special exercises for all, and exactly 
the sequence which, in general, is the best one, these 
are questions of application, in which we may hon- 
estly differ even when we accept the principles. 

On the question of the proper sequence there is 
a wide divergence of opinion, and no particular 
order has as yet been supported with so convincing 
proofs that we can hope for unanimity in this re- 
gard in the near future. Because of the fact that 
the Swedes have paid more attention to this mat- 
ter than anybody else, and because the succession 
advocated by them undoubtedly gives very good 
results, even if better might perhaps be gained by a 

81 



82 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

different arrangement, it is well in any discussion 
of the proper planning of the lesson to consider well 
their general scheme. In doing so it should be re- 
membered that it is not an outgrowth of theoretical 
reasoning, and that in fact they do not endeavor 
to give any other reasons for the plan they have 
adopted than that experience has proved it to be 
satisfactory. It is not based on laboratory experi- 
ments, but simply and solely upon observations 
made directly in the gymnasium. Their plan is 
quite universally known as the typical Day's Order. 

It represents the idea of a steady rise in the 
energy until the climax is reached after which fol- 
lows a rather rapid decline to the end, as also the 
idea of all-sided activity varied in such a manner as 
gives the greater effectiveness to the lesson as a 
whole. 

It begins with a series of mild, introductory ex- 
ercises, always taken without apparatus, not be- 
cause apparatus work is "heavy," and freework is 
"light," but because time is saved thereby, and be- 
cause it is desirable to pass from the introduction 
to the real work in the briefest possible time. 
These exercises are not classified according to their 
effects upon the chief functions, but simply accord- 
ing to the part of the body thrown into activity, 
just because their purpose is to throw all main mus- 



COMPOSITION OF THE LESSON 83 

cular groups into activity. I know no particular 
reason for the sequence in which they follow each 
other, and suspect that it is more a matter of habit 
and routine than a matter of principle. It may be 
noticed, however, that this introductory series to a 
limited degree is a miniature of the day's order as 
a whole, and there consequently may have been 
definite reasons for the sequence actually chosen. 
But even before we enter upon real introduction, 
we need to gain control of the class, we need to 
catch the attention, we need to place the pupils in 
postures suitable for activity, and we need to place 
them in such relation to each other and to the room, 
that they do not interfere with or in any way ham- 
per each other, but that each can take the exercises 
with the least inconvenience and at the same time 
be under the effective supervision of the teacher. 
These introductions to the introductions, are what 
we call "ordermovements." This term is not to be 
considered synonymous with the German "Ord- 
nungsuebungen." The latter include the former, 
but besides that they cover tactical evolutions, in 
the strictest sense, as also marches in squares, stars, 
circles, spirals, etc. These if practised require a 
high degree of attention and cannot suitably be 
given immediately after a lesson or strong mental 
concentration. They are, therefore, so far as they 



84 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

are used at all, postponed till later in the lesson, 
when the system has been stimulated by activity, 
but should on the other hand not be taken so late 
that actual fatigue has set in. 

The leg movements appear in two places in this 
series. This is because contraction of large mus- 
cle masses are needed to stimulate the circulation 
and because it is desirable that we rapidly shall gain 
revulsion to the muscles from the congested abdo- 
minal organs and the cerebro-spinal system. The 
latter can of course not be accomplished if the ex- 
ercises themselves involve great attention, and 
among leg movements we have a large number 
which may be done with only a minimum amount of 
concentration. The first leg movement is fre- 
quently, in fact usually, combined with some form 
of respiratory exercise, i. e., some movement in the 
respiratory rhythm of such form that the chest 
becomes alternately expanded and relaxed. The 
second leg movement should be of a different type 
from the first one. When the Introductions are 
finished, we proceed to the chief work. We begin 
with hyper extensions of the trunk not brought 
about passively by the weight of the body but by 
strong muscular contraction of the dorsal muscles. 
In the execution of the tense bendings, a type of 
which is depicted in Fig. 15, there is great temp- 



COMPOSITION OF THE LESSON 85 

tation for the teacher to proceed faster than the 
ability of the pupils will allow. As has already 
been said, it requires no mean effort by the average 
person to maintain the arms fully extended above 
the head. When he then is required to bend back- 
ward while maintaining the arms in this position 
the task becomes very much more demanding, and 
if not controlled thoroughly by the teacher he re- 
laxes his back and shoulder muscles, allows his body 
to sink down between the arms, executes the back- 
ward flexion in the lumbar region, and endeavors 
unconsciously to increase the depth of the bending 
by flexion in his knees, and the result is the deform- 
ing posture shown in Fig. 34. 

To avoid this, proceed slowly, pay particular at- 
tention to the position of arms and head which also, 
like the former, has a tendency to advance, and 
make the flexion in the upper region only. 

Immediately after this, a trunk-bending forward 
and downward is usually made, as a relief from the 
hyper extension, followed by some form of exer- 
cise in which the abdominal muscles are strongly 
contracted, for instance a stoop-falling posture, 
after which a leg movement or a mild form of jump- 
ing is taken. Now follow heave-movements, by 
which we mean exercises in which the weight of 
the body is wholly or partly suspended from the 



86 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

shoulders. It includes all kinds of hanging by the 
hands, chinning, arm traveling, climbing, exercises 
in balance weighing posture ("rest"), etc. The 
chief physical effect which it is desired to give by 
this group is mobility of the chest in the inspiratory 
direction during strong contraction of the retractors 
of the scapulae. It is evident that we cannot secure 
this in the highest degree if our apparatus forces 
us to bring the arms forward or close together, as 
for instance in climbing on vertical ropes or poles, 
in arm traveling on the boom, but an endeavor 
should always be made to maintain the head and 
shoulders well carried. 

The exercises taken up to this time have been of 
a general nature; they have caused a revulsion of 
the circulation from the viscera to the motor organs 
and have mechanically expanded the thorax, with- 
out being of such severe character or such large 
quantity that fatigue has become noticeable. The 
whole system has been prepared for more special 
exercises. These, in accord with the previous dis- 
cussion, begin with such exercises as require con- 
siderable nervous energy without corresponding 
strong muscular contraction; in other words, coor- 
dination exercises. Of these, the exercises in main- 
taining the equilibrium are perhaps the most im- 
portant ones from a general viewpoint, serving to 



COMPOSITION OF THE LESSON 87 

give power of maintaining erect carriage. Bal- 
ancing exercises are therefore brought in here. 
They are usually taken as freestanding movements, 
while such balancing exercises as require apparatus 
are commonly taken simultaneously with the heave- 
movements, each pupil, having finished the latter 
returning to his place in the formation by means of 
the balancing boards, executing on these the pre- 
scribed exercise. 

Further special exercises now follow. Usually 
provision is made for two successive series of ex- 
ercises for neck, shoulder and back, for abdomen, 
and that group of asymmetrical trunk movements 
which have been called lateral trunk movements. 
The reason why two series of these are employed is 
to be sought in the value attached to them as pre- 
ventative and curative of common defects. It 
hardly needs to be mentioned that the two series 
should not be identical, but must be chosen in such 
a manner as to present the greatest variety of form ; 
the second series, generally speaking, representing 
the more intense activity. For practical reasons, 
such as saving of time, etc., it is habitual to com- 
pose one of the series (generally the first) exclu- 
sively of, free movements, while for the other ap- 
paratus is employed. The two series are always 
separated from each other by some milder form of 



88 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

movement, either a leg or a respiratory movement, 
or marches, mild running, and tactical evolutions. 

Immediately after the second series of the spe- 
cial exercises, or separated from them by some re- 
lief movements, like leg movements, come applied 
exercises, which represent the highest type of the 
work both as to general coordination and energy 
expenditure. The forms chosen for these are usu- 
ally some form of heave movements such as ser- 
penting, climbing of various kinds, etc., followed 
by vaulting, jumping, and other precipitant exer- 
cises. 

With these the chief work of the day is ended, 
and it only remains somewhat to restore the system 
to its normal condition, for which a lateral trunk 
movement, a toe march or other mild leg move- 
ments and a respiratory exercise are commonly 
employed. 

Such is the general scheme of a lesson given ac- 
cording to the Swedish system, which has gained 
recognition in this country. A great mistake is 
commonly made outside of the Swedish ranks, that 
this plan is a straight- jacket into which every one 
should be pressed. Nothing is further from the 
truth. It is claimed to be the experience of a hun- 
dred years that this plan enables us to give the 
greatest variety and greatest quantity of valuable 



Fig. 18. 

Strong activity of the pectoral muscles to protect the shoulder 
joint. (See page 41.) 



COMPOSITION OF THE LESSON 89 

exercises in the shortest time, and it is therefore 
insisted that each one does well in considering it as 
a reliable guide. But it must be a guide to free- 
dom of action, not be the sign of slavish submission 
to dogma. It is claimed that the less prepared a 
teacher is for his work, the more is he in need of 
some such statement of what experience has taught 
those who have gone before him. But with the 
growth of his own experience he becomes more and 
more free from the methods of others, and should 
substitute his own judgment for that of his pred- 
ecessors. If this experience furnishes him with a 
better procedure, it is his duty to utilize it. Prog- 
ress is not made by changing rules simply because 
of fancy. If you have any reason which seems to 
your own judgment to be an adequate one, make 
the changes you desire, but do not make these 
changes without any reason at all. Such is rule. 
The teacher's individuality must have full sway. 
But freedom must not be confounded with law- 
lessness. 

Let us consider some changes which because of 
the ever-changing conditions under which we teach 
must be made more or less frequently by every one, 
changes which are not only permissible, but abso- 
lutely required by any teacher, who is not a mere 
machine, 



90 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

1. In the general scheme put before us, we have 
order movements at the beginning of the lesson. 
Every one must recognize the absolute necessity of 
their use before other work is undertaken. Order 
must be gained. Discipline must be established. 
The teacher must get into control of the class. But 
though this is an absolute necessity at the begin- 
ning of the lesson, it is no less necessary, that this 
order, and discipline, and control should be con- 
tinued. Now it happens, it must happen, in every 
lesson, that sooner or later the order is disturbed, 
the control lessened, the formal discipline relaxed. 
Some extraneous circumstances may divert the at- 
tention of the pupils, their activity may bring the 
ranks awry, the distances may increase or diminish, 
the synchrony of motion may become lost from some 
reason or other. Should we then go on with our 
lesson without taking account of these factors? 
Certainly not. We shall again reestablish order; 
we shall again assert our control; we shall again 
employ order movements in order to do our work to 
the best advantage. The typical day's order shows 
us the place where order movements are absolutely 
essential under all conditions. In the practical 
work, order movements should be brought in any- 
where when needed. 

2. Suppose that the class shows signs of undue 



COMPOSITION OF THE LESSON 91 

fatigue while we are following the general plan. 
This may be due to poor judgment of the teacher. 
It may be due to extra hard work in the school, of 
which the teacher may not be cognizant. It may 
be due to unusually sweltering weather. It may 
be due to a thousand and one circumstances. 
Though we may decrease the general severity of the 
lesson as planned, by giving less strenuous exercises 
in the various groups, we may well think of giv- 
ing a greater number of relief movements, leg move- 
ments, respiratory movements and the like, requir- 
ing little mental and physical exertion, even if the 
typical plan does not distinctly provide for them. 
We often see that long rests are given in the gym- 
nasium. Pupils are allowed to sit or lie down. 
This is a mistake. The rest in the gymnasium 
should be furnished by change in activity, not by 
cessation of activity. Common sense should rule 
supreme over pre-arranged plans. No violation of 
principle is done by changing the plan according to 
circumstances. Common sense demands it. The 
plan is not our master. It is simply a guide. 

3. Suppose that we have divided up our class 
into sections for work on the apparatus and that 
the latter are insufficient in number to accommo- 
date all simultaneously in the tense-bendings, or 
in the heave movements, or the movements for the 



92 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

neck, shoulders, and back, or the movements for 
the abdomen, or the lateral trunk movements. I 
see no reasons to uphold the inviolability of the gen- 
eral plan of such strength that they can overbal- 
ance the evils of giving the class some unsuitable 
exercises or of allowing them to remain in inac- 
tivity. The duty of the teacher under such con- 
ditions is to change the sequence for part of the 
class, allowing for instance some sections to take 
tense bendings while the rest take heave move- 
ments, and then allowing the latter to take tense 
bendings while the former take heave movements, 
part of the class to take movements for neck, shoul- 
ders and back, while others take abdominal exer- 
cises, and still others take lateral trunk movements, 
and so on. 

4. Suppose that the time allowed us is too short 
to follow out the rather elaborate plan for a les- 
son presented here. Shall we then consider it is 
impossible to follow the spirit of that plan simply 
because we cannot carry it out to the letter? Com- 
mon sense of course dictates that we shall abbre- 
viate the plan, maintaining its essential features. 
Various methods of doing this suggest themselves to 
any thinking teacher, as for instance: 

A. We may exclude one exercise of a given fam- 
ily, which is represented by more than one type. 



COMPOSITION OF THE LESSON 93 

B. We may exclude on alternate days exercises 
which, though not of the same family, have effects 
which, so to say, overlap each other's. 

C. We may make combinations in many ways, 
in which characteristics of several families enter, 
or we may make sequences, different parts of which 
represent different families. 

a. Make a sequence, by taking the "weighing 
posture" on the boom, following it by a somersault 
over the boom, finishing in tense bending posture, 
and possibly doing some exercise in that posture. 

fo. Or, for instance, by vaulting over an obstacle 
by the means of the vertical ropes, by using the 
seesaw, or the giant swing. 

Many other methods will easily suggest them- 
selves, by which the general idea of the typical 
day's order remains intact, but its usual form is so 
varied that it can be recognized only by those 
thoroughly familiar with the underlying principles. 
That such changes should be made with due con- 
sideration to all the conditions need hardly be 
stated. It would carry us too far to enlarge on 
this subject. Suffice it in this connection to say 
that if abdominal exercises be excluded some day, 
when lateral trunk movements in the form of trunk 
twisting are used, it seems to be best in accord 
with the principle of gymnastic totality to intro- 



94 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

duce the abdominal element in some other family. 
We might on such a day employ as heave move- 
ments a hanging with leg raising forward, and its 
derivatives, while on a day when the regular ab- 
dominal exercises were given but no regular lateral 
trunk movements, a serpentining through the lad- 
der would be in place as a heave movement. 

5. Fancy steps and dancing are exercises for 
such classes who have a suitable preparation for 
them. Old folk dances should be taken up by the 
Physical Director wherever possible. Is there in 
the day's order, as given, any place for them? I 
have found no difficulty in introducing them in my 
lessons, without making any change in the general 
plan. The first instruction in the form of steps 
seems to be so closely allied to balancing exercises, 
that they may well take the place of these. As 
soon as the form is fairly mastered and it becomes 
a matter of allowing one movement rapidly to glide 
over into another to form a harmoniously coordi- 
nate whole, a tour or figure, its substitution for 
vaulting and jumping lies so near at hand, that 
even the most tender Swedish conscience receives 
no shock. 

6. Play and games belong in the gymnasium 
as complements to the formal exercises, though 
they, as before stated, should not be confounded 




Fig. 19. 

The muscles of the back which need strengthening are inactive, 

while the anterior muscles oppose the strain. (See page 41.) 



COMPOSITION OF THE LESSON 95 

with them. A mistake seems to be made frequently 
by separating the games from the regular instruc- 
tion, often as a suitable ending to the lesson, some- 
times as a premium for lack of discipline. The 
majority of games require severe running. These 
should be occasionally used instead of vaulting and 
running. For small children there are many at- 
tractive little plays which may be used with such 
simple tactical evolutions as may be suitable for 
their age. An example is "The King of France, 
with forty thousand men, marched up the hill, and 
then marched down again." 

If we wish to introduce some play every day, a 
method to be recommended is to substitute a certain 
game for the formal gymnastic exercise, which it 
most closely resembles. Thus let us for instance 
on Mondays exclude the regular heave movements, 
and play "hang tag" in its place. On Tuesdays 
let the balancing exercises go by the board, but play 
"Fighting roosters." On Wednesdays, we may 
exclude the formal exercise for neck, shoulder and 
back, and play a kind of "Tug-of-War," by having 
the pupils formed in line, sit down on the floor feet 
to feet, and grasping each other's hands, endeavor- 
ing to raise each other up to standing posture by 
strongly extending legs and backs. On Thurs- 
days we might be "weighing salt" instead of ab- 



96 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

dominal exercises, and on Fridays try to initiate 
the boys at least in the rudiments of wrestling in- 
stead of lateral trunk movements, or we may teach 
them to do the "Cart wheel." 

In brief, the plan may be followed and still 
varied in so many ways that the thoughtful teacher 
suffers rather from embarrassment because of the 
richness of the material at his hands than from the 
opposite condition. 

What objection is there to some such plan for our 
lessons? Are the Physical Directors prejudiced 
against it without reason ? Or do they refuse to ac- 
cept it because of inertia? Or is the plan really in- 
ferior to absence of plan? 



CHAPTER VI 

PROGRESSION 

Any change in the exercises in order to gain a 
more complete or more rapid effect in the desired 
direction by taking advantage of advancing devel- 
opment we call progression. 

In every lesson there should be, as far as possible, 
such a change. That is the content of the principle 
of unity. Each group of exercises to a certain ex- 
tent prepares for those which follow. There should 
be progression in each lesson. 

But even from day to day, from week to week, 
from year to year, we must change our exercises in 
accord with the development of the pupil. Not, of 
course, that a program made up for to-day needs 
necessarily be discarded for a new one to-morrow. 
But sooner or later changes must take place if we 
shall expect that our work shall be a factor in de- 
velopment. Constant repetitions can, at best, only 
maintain the development once gained. 

Nobody can state a priori how soon an exercise 
should be modified, nor exactly what elements of 
the exercise should be retained and what should be 

97 



98 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

varied. The determining factors are too many and 
too complex to be brought under precise laws. 
They depend on the ability and personality of the 
teacher, on the ability and personality of the pupils, 
on their age, strength, sex, occupation, home-condi- 
tions, on the time devoted to the work, of the fur- 
nishings of the gymnasium, on a thousand and one 
things varying with each class. 

In such school systems where the physical train- 
ing is in charge of a technically trained director, 
acting in a supervisory capacity, while the actual 
work is carried out, mainly if not exclusively, by 
the regular class teacher without technical train- 
ing, the custom has grown up to supply the latter 
with slips or cards with a number of exercises. 
The class teacher takes card No. 1 and goes through 
the exercises given thereon for a certain limited 
time, after which she, on a certain date, drops them, 
substituting a new set of exercises on card 2, and 
so on. This is Progression, but it is progression 
by leaps and starts. Under the conditions, some 
such plan is perhaps the only practical one. It is 
a matter of administration. It probably could be 
modified somewhat to advantage. It is safe to 
say that no teacher with pedagogic instinct should 
proceed exactly in that manner. However well 
chosen the exercises may be, they are chosen by a 



PROGRESSION 99 

person other than the one who is to apply them, 
a person of different mental make-up. They are 
chosen and combined for an imaginary class of 
imaginary pupils, not for the particular class with 
which the teacher deals. They may be suitable for 
the average child, but not for the exact children 
in question. Every teacher should make up her 
own programs, using the published ones as guides 
to be consulted, but not to be strictly followed. 

Furthermore, whether the teacher makes up her 
own plans or not, and even when the individual ex- 
ercises are arranged in the best possible manner, 
so as to correspond to the ability of the class, it will 
always be found that one or a few are mastered 
before some others. These should of course be 
dropped for new ones of the same family independ- 
ent of whether the other exercises in the day's order 
need to be further improved or not. In each fam- 
ily there shall be a progression to the highest possi- 
ble ability, always however avoiding specialization. 

A good plan is to make out before the beginning 
of the course a different set of day's orders for each 
day in the week, and to progress in each set some- 
what independently. Thus, if we are to give les- 
sons each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, make 
out three sets of Day's Orders, which we might 
designate as follows: 



100 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

MONDAYS: 

At Bx Ci Dx Ei Fi Gi 

xV.2 X>2 1^2 -L'2 -1^2 X* 2 G2 
A3 X>3 C3 JD3 JCj3 X 1 3 Cx3 

WEDNESDAYS: 

a, bi Ci d x ei fi g t 
a 2 b 2 c 2 d 2 e 2 f 2 g2 
a 3 b 3 c 3 d 3 e 3 f 3 g 3 

FtfZZUFS; 

Ax Bx Ci Dx E, Fx Gx 

A2 lj2 V-^2 1^2 li2 F2 Cx2 
XX3 J33 O3 JLJ3 XL3 X 1 3 (jT3 

All A-s, a-s and A-s are of the same family, but 
of different types, Ai, A 2 , A 3 , denoting three exer- 
cises progressively arranged out of the same type, 
in the same family from which sl u a 2 , a 3 are three 
progressively arranged exercises of another type, 
and so on. 

In practice, the progression on successive Mon- 
days could then be denoted as follows: 

Ax B 1 C, D* Ei Fi Gi 
A x (BO B 2 Ci Di Ex Fx Gi 




Fig. 20. 

The wand acts as a brace to overcome which the pectoral muscles 
contract. (See page Jf2.) 



PROGRESSION 101 

(A x ) A 2 B 2 CC,D 2 E 2 Fid 
A 2 (Bi) (B 2 ) C 2 B 1 D 2 Ex F 2 G 2 
A 3 (B 3 ) (Ci) (C 2 ) E 2 E 2 F 2 G3 
A 3 (B 2 ) (B.) C 3 D 3 E 2 (F0 F s G 3 

A3 X)3 C3 JJ3 Jli3 X* 3 Cx3 

the exercises in parentheses denoting repetitions. 
But the important question for us to decide is 
how to judge which one of a number of exercises of 
the same general effect should be taught first, and 
which one should succeed. Which one of all the 
A-s should be used as Ai, which one as A 2 , A 3 ? 
What is the difference between Bi, B 2 , and B 3 , 
which makes us place them in that definite order? 
The science of gymnastics is in such an embryonic 
state that we have as yet established no generally 
accepted laws according to which we may progress. 
We mostly rely upon a more or less indistinct feel- 
ing that a certain exercise is "harder," "more diffi- 
cult" than another. And in our present incomplete 
knowledge it is impossible to give universal laws. 
All that may possibly be done is to make an en- 
deavor to put into words some of the experiences 
gained in individual cases, in the hope that they may 
serve as material out of which at some time in the 
future definite laws may be formulated. 



102 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

The gymnastic exercises with which we, as teach- 
ers, deal are muscular contractions, induced by nerv- 
ous impulses. The muscular contractions and the 
nervous impulses are the causative forces. The 
effectiveness of a physical force, or, as the physicist 
expresses it, "the moment of the impulse," is meas- 
ured by the formula fr.t. which, translated into 
common language, means that the effectiveness is 
the product of the intensity of the force, the distance 
through which, and the time during which it acts. 
The time will probably arrive when only exact state- 
ments borrowed from the physical and mathemat- 
ical sciences will be admitted to full citizenship in 
a biological science. But that time is certainly not 
yet at hand so far as concerns gymnastics, and we 
will therefore limit ourselves simply to say that, 
according to the general formula, the effectiveness 
of an exercise may be increased, progression may be 
made, by increasing either of the causative agencies, 
the muscular contraction or the nervous impulse 
either in intensity, extent, or duration. 

Supposing the extent and duration of a muscular 
contraction to remain unaltered, its intensity may be 
measured by the resistance which is overcome. This 
resistance is of a complex nature. Of most impor- 
tance is that offered by gravity, which is dependent 
on two factors, the mass (weight) moved (or sus- 



PROGRESSION 103 

tained), and the lever upon which gravity acts. 
Other conditions being equal, the intensity of the 
muscular contraction is due to an increase of either ; 
and our first "Progressive Law" is therefore : 

(1.) Of two exercises involving the same mus- 
cular groups in contractions of the same extent, 
speed and duration, that one is more advanced in 
which a greater weight is moved, or sustained. 

There are three distinctively different modes of 
progression according to this "Law." In "Stand- 
ing Arm bending upward" the weight moved by the 
flexors of the elbows is that of the forearms. To 
increase the intensity of the contraction, the ap- 
parently simplest mode is to add a new weight by 
holding an object in the hands. This is a common 
means of progression everywhere, though it is more 
habitual in this country, less in Germany, and still 
less in Sweden. In fact, it is a quite general im- 
pression that the Swedes never use any external 
resistance at all. It may not be out of place to 
deny that here. There is no objection by the Swed- 
ish gymnasts to the employment of external resist- 
ance of any kind. The objection is not against the 
apparatus, but against the manner in which they 
are commonly used. In the Royal Central Insti- 
tute, as well as in the Swedish Army and Navy, the 
rifle is frequently employed for the purpose of fur- 



104 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

nishing an extra weight, and dumb-bells, Indian 
clubs, and metal wands are not totally unknown, 
though their use is not generally encouraged because 
of what is considered to be a great temptation to use 
them erroneously, and because the increased re- 
sistance may be gained by other means which are 
considered both simpler and safer. 

One is to employ the resistance of another per- 
son. By the mutual resistance of the gymnasts, 
time is saved. There is no loss in fetching and re- 
moving the portable apparatus, and there is no 
reason why a large number of exercises should be 
performed in succession with this other resistance, 
causing local fatigue. This, they say, is one of the 
inconveniences of dumb-bells, Indian clubs, etc. 
But furthermore, the resistance offered by the ap- 
paratus is fixed and invariable, while the moving 
force, the muscular contraction, varies with the de- 
gree of contraction. It is therefore more advan- 
tageous to have an intelligence behind the resistance, 
by which it can be moderated according to the 
changing strength. In gymnastics for therapeutic 
purposes, this mode of increasing the intensity of 
the contraction is extremely common, and can 
hardly be surpassed, the resistance being given by 
a trained gymnast. In the usual class work it is, 
of course, far less applicable, because the pupils can 



PROGRESSION 105 

only in exceptional cases be supposed to have that 
training and gymnastic sense without which the 
supposed advantage becomes a delusion. It can 
practically only be used in classes of adolescents or 
adults with a training extending over several years. 

In this connection it may perhaps be appropriate 
to call attention to one undesirable feature of such 
apparatus in which the resistance is furnished by an 
elastic body, a spring or a cord. In this, the re- 
sistance is smallest at the beginning of the move- 
ment, and grows constantly to its end. But, aside 
from considerations of leverage, the force with 
which a muscle contracts, decreases with the degree 
of contraction. When the muscle is strongest we 
have least resistance. When the muscle is weak- 
est, the resistance is greatest. 

Instead of using external weights, elastic resist- 
ance, or opposing the movement by another person, 
we may find the increased weight within the body it- 
self. We are in the habit of speaking of the at- 
tachments of a muscle as its origin and its inser- 
tion, meaning by the former the fixed point and by 
the latter the movable point. Rut this fixity of one 
end and this mobility of the other is not absolute. 
The designation is made in accord with the habitual 
conditions. But these may be reversed, so that the 
commonly fixed point becomes the movable one 



106 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

and vice versa. And by this "reversal of origin" 
changes of the weight may be made. Thus, for in- 
stance, the hips are flexed by a number of muscles, 
the most important of which are the psoas and the 
iliacus. In a lying posture their contraction will 
flex the lower extremities upon the trunk. But if 
the feet be supported, the same muscles will flex the 
trunk upor the extremities. This is an example of 
progression by reversed origin. Extension of the 
elbows is done by the triceps. Under normal con- 
ditions the moving weight is the forearm. But by 
inclining the body forward and supporting it by the 
hands, the lower attachment becomes the fixed 
point, and the weight moved will be a considerable 
portion of the body. The origin has been reversed 
and the progression made. The flexors of elbows 
normally have their movable point below the elbows 
and the weight they move is only the forearm. But 
fix the latter, for instance, by hanging, the origin is 
reversed, and again a considerable part of the body 
weight constitutes the load to be overcome. It is 
advisedly said a "considerable part of the weight," 
because though it is commonly said that in this 
posture the arms are flexed by the biceps group, we 
of course all understand that they by no means do 
it all, but that the main work in reality falls upon 
the adductors of the upper arms. By suitable pos- 




Fig. 81. 
Pectoral activity often mistaken for dorsal. (See page ffi.) 



PROGRESSION 107 

tures the work of the flexors may be nicely graded 
through a long series of exercises of ever-increasing 
difficulty, and to a certain extent the necessity of 
utilizing external resistance is thereby obviated. 

Increased intensity of muscular contraction is 
also required if the weight, though unchanged, is 
differently distributed so as to act upon a longer 
lever, which may be expressed in this law: 

(2.) Of two exercises in which the same weight is 
moved an equal distance during an equal time, or 
sustained in the same position for an equal time, 
that one is more advanced in which the weight acts 
upon the greater lever. 

If one assumes a lying posture and lifts the legs 
with extended or with flexed knees, the same weight 
is moved in both cases, but in the former the grav- 
ity acts upon a longer lever. Similar relations de- 
termining the progression we have in reclining the 
body in a sitting posture with the arms extended 
above the head or placed on the hips. 

It should be noticed that the weight lever changes 
during most movements. Thus in the lying leg- 
raising given as example, the lever is greatest at 
the beginning of the movement, and decreases 
steadily until the legs form a right angle with the 
body, when it is zero. If the movement be con- 
tinued beyond that point, the lever becomes a minus 



108 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

quantity, that is gravity no longer resists the flex- 
ors but assists them, or relieves them of all work, 
the extensors of the hips entering in contraction in 
their place. In connection with this "law," it 
should also be observed, that any progression ac- 
cording to the first "law" by means of external 
weights also increases the weight lever, so that the 
progression is double. 

Finally, we must not forget that in formulating 
either of these "laws," no consideration has been 
taken to the inertia. When a movement has ac- 
quired a certain speed, only a minimum of muscular 
effort is required to maintain it. It continues 
greatly because of its own inertia. Thus, for in- 
stance, a giant swing requires little muscular effort 
when it has been begun, but if the center of gravity 
be moved close to the axis of motion by bending 
of either the arms or the legs, considerable strength 
would be demanded for its continuation. 

The two foregoing "laws" deal with the resistance 
offered by gravity. But there are other agencies 
opposing motion in the body. One of these is fric- 
tion in the joints, in the play of tendons, muscles, 
and various other tissues upon each other. Nature 
provides abundant means by which this friction is 
minimized. Physiologists as well as gymnasts gen- 



PROGRESSION 109 

erally consider the resistance by friction as too in- 
significant to be taken into account. The articulat- 
ing surfaces are smooth. They are lubricated by 
synovia, bursas exist wherever friction threatens to 
become an obstacle to free motion, the tissues are 
generally slippery so as to glide easily over each 
other. It has been estimated, however, that, in 
spite of all these labor-saving devices of nature, 
about one thirtieth of the whole muscular force is 
expended in overcoming internal friction. If a mo- 
tion requires small muscular effort, the friction is 
small. With increased effort it grows apace. If 
a group of muscles capable of lifting one hundred 
pounds contract in order to lift only ten pounds, 
the internal friction would amount to only a third 
of a pound or one third of one per cent, of the ca- 
pacity of the muscles. But if they are required to 
lift ninety pounds, there would be an addition in 
resistance which would amount to three pounds, or 
three per cent., which may not be insignificant. 

Furthermore, this internal friction is not always 
a hindrance to the muscles. It sometimes assists 
them. We are prone to consider that all motion 
in the body is caused by muscular contraction; we 
often forget gravity as a cause of motion. And 
friction of course always resists the motion what- 



110 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

ever its cause may be. If I lift my arm sideways, 
the motion is caused by muscles opposed by gravity 
and friction. If I allow the arm to sink slowly, the 
motion is caused by gravity and is opposed by 
muscles and friction combined. The former is true 
in all "concentric" activity. The latter in all "ec- 
centric" activity. These terms signify — concentric, 
that the main active muscle during its activity is 
gradually growing shorter ; eccentric that it is grow- 
ing longer. 

Therefore we gain this "law": 

(3.) A Concentric Movement is more advanced 
than its Eccentric complement. 

Suppose, for instance, that a person hanging by 
the arms wishes to bend his elbows to "chin." The 
muscular effort needed may be denoted by M, the 
friction by F and gravity by G. The condition 
for his ability to execute the exercise is then that 
his muscles shall be able to overcome the combined 
action of gravity and friction, or, mathematically 
expressed: 

M>(G+F) or (M— F)>G 

Now, if, after having bent his arms, he allows 
the body to sink with the same speed used in rais- 
ing it, gravity will overcome the resistance offered 
by the muscles and friction, which, if m denotes the 



PROGRESSION 111 

muscular effort, f the friction and G gravity, may 
be expressed as 

G> (m+f ) 

A comparison of the two gives: 

(M— F)>G>(m+f) 

And if the value of friction or one thirtieth of the 
muscular effort, be inserted, we have: 

29/30 M 31/30 m 

Suppose the average muscular effort to be 150 
pounds, there is a difference in the two movements 
of about 10 lbs. solely because of friction, which by 
no means is insignificant. Many exercises may 
therefore well be taught eccentrically before the con- 
centric part is essayed. Suppose that a boy wishes 
to acquire the ability to "chin." Not that the ac- 
complishment is of so great importance that much 
time should be spent on it ; but many do wish to do 
so, and no harm can come from it if certain pre- 
cautions are taken. He may well step up on a 
bench of sufficient height to enable him to grasp the 
object firmly, while his arms are bent, sinking down 
gradually, and thus gaining the strength he desires. 
Of course the leverage of all the motor muscles is 
better in the eccentric movement than in the con- 



112 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

centric movement, which undoubtedly plays an im- 
portant part in the greater ease with which the 
former is executed. But the importance of fric- 
tion can not be excluded. 

Reclining the body backward from a sitting pos- 
ture is easier than raising the body from lying to 
sitting. In this case, the case is still more com- 
plicated: we have not only to take into considera- 
tion the change of leverage of the motor muscles, 
but also the increased leverage of the weight which 
comes with the increase of the angle'in the hip- joint. 

We have already several times spoken of the part 
played by the antagonistic muscles in the execution 
of a movement. Within certain limits, at least, 
the resistance offered by the antagonists may be 
voluntarily increased and thereby the contraction 
required of the motor muscles be increased or de- 
creased. We may, therefore, consider it a possi- 
ble "law": 

(4.) A Movement may be advanced by voluntary 
increase of the antagonistic action. 

The possibility of increasing the resistance by 
this means has received considerable attention of 
late by a certain class of advertising Teachers of 
Physical Culture. The theory upon which they 
found their peculiar claims is, if I understand it 
rightly, that natural contractions do not suffice to 




Fig. 22A. 

When the weight is passively suspended, the exercise has practi- 
cally a negligible value. (See page 43.) 




Fig. 22B. 

The bony framework of the shoulder girdle as influenced by 
passive suspension. (See Fig. 22 A .) 



PROGRESSION 113 

give in a brief time the necessary stimulus to in- 
creased nutrition. In order to gain this advantage, 
the muscular contraction must be opposed by arti- 
ficial means. Hitherto the most commonly em- 
ployed method to supply the desired additional re- 
sistance has been by external weight. But these 
increase the strain upon the heart. And to obviate 
this evil, and at the same time gain the desired 
amount of energy expenditure, the so-called "phys- 
iological" method of utilizing the antagonistic re- 
sistance has been devised. 

It is hardly necessary to call the attention to the 
fact that every link in this chain of reasoning is 
fallacious. External weights are not necessary to 
gain complete and powerful contractions. If ex- 
ternal weights be added, they do not interfere with 
the cardiac action, except if they be moved while the 
respiration be interrupted, that is, if an effort be 
made with closed glottis. Circulation is favored 
and the heart assisted by alternating contractions 
and relaxations. When, as in movements with 
severe antagonistic resistance, the field of simul- 
taneous contraction is enlarged and its duration in- 
creased, there is on the contrary strong probability 
that the circulation will be seriously interfered with, 
and an undue strain be placed upon the heart. And 
this is not all. One of the great functions of gym- 



114 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

nasties is to develop the ability to localize the nerv- 
ous impulse to its proper paths, to those paths by 
which it can be most economically translated into 
muscular contraction for the execution of natural 
acts. The development of the motor impulse goes 
from a general diffusion to finer and finer localiza- 
tion. The method of using voluntary antagonistic 
resistance is contrary to the laws of nature, inas- 
much as it strives, consciously or unconsciously, to 
make permanent the stage of diffusion, to nurse 
rigidity of motion which we should, in the interest 
of economy of energy and grace, do everything 
possible to counteract and eradicate. 

So far as known, reference to the possible desir- 
ability of this method of progression has only been 
made by one reputable author, the late lamented 
Posse. He mentions it only, so to say, parentheti- 
cally, and I can only explain it as an error of judg- 
ment. 

Strange to say, the advocates of relaxation, par 
excellence, not infrequently employ exercises in 
which a totally unnecessary voluntary increase of 
the antagonistic resistance is called for. 

The ease or difficulty of a movement depends 
also on the conditions under which the muscles work. 
In the foregoing we have mentioned the changing 
leverage of the motor muscles. I have been unable 



PROGRESSION 115 

to think of any example in which this matter alone 
is the determining factor, and have therefore not 
endeavored to formulate a "law" to cover the cases. 
But the ability of a muscle depends on many other 
factors, of which one of the foremost is its condi- 
tion when it begins to move the weight. Its work- 
ing capacity decreases with its degree of contrac- 
tion. If a muscle receives its load when it is fully 
extended it is able to lift a greater load, than if the 
load is attached to it after it has been partly con- 
tracted. Whether this is due to the assistance given 
by the mere mechanical elasticity of the tissues, or 
whether it depends on difference in the number of 
muscle fibers which can be brought to bear upon 
the load, seems not to be settled. Both factors 
probably enter, and the fact is undoubted. Hence 
if a starting posture be chosen, in which the attach- 
ments are strongly separated before the movement 
is begun the execution becomes easier, requires less 
energy, than if the attachments are approached. 
In the latter case a certain amount of contraction 
is necessary for the mere purpose of "taking in the 
slack," if this expression be allowed to convey the 
mechanical idea, instead of being taken in its literal 
sense. Therefore : 

(5.) A movement involving a certain muscle 
group in activity of a certain kind becomes more 



116 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

advanced if the attachments of the active muscles 
are approached to each other in the starting posture. 
Take Lying Leg-raising as an example. The 
motor muscles are the flexors of the hips. But the 
activity which is especially desired in this exercise 
is that of the abdominal muscles which act as fix- 
ators for the pelvis. The rectus abdominis may be 
chosen as a type of these in this example. Its 
lower attachment is on the pubic arc, its upper on 
the thoracic wall. The position of the arms de- 
termines to great extent the position of the latter. 
If the arms be raised above the head, or the hands 
be placed behind the head, the sternum and ribs be- 
come raised and fixed in this position, the rectus 
abdominis consequently moderately extended, and 
the leg-raising takes place easier than if the arms 
are down by the side, in which case the first part of 
the contraction only serves to depress the costal cage 
until sufficient fixity has been gained to give pur- 
chase. This approach of the origin to the inser- 
tion may by a suitable posture be carried to such an 
extent that certain muscles ordinarily engaged in 
a movement are actually prevented from furnish- 
ing any help in the execution. Take for instance 
the muscles usually engaged in the plantar flexion 
of the ankle. There are many of these but we may 
limit our attention to the gastrocnemius and the 



PROGRESSION 117 

soleus as representatives of two types, the former 
having its upper attachment above the knee-joint, 
the latter below. If the knee be rather sharply 
bent, the gastrocnemius becomes relaxed to such an 
extent that its contraction meets little or no resist- 
ance and the other muscles must execute the work 
unaided. If I rise upon tiptoes from the usual 
standing posture all the calf muscles cooperate. 
But if I then begin to bend my knees, the gas- 
trocnemius gradually loses its power, cannot, to the 
same extent as formerly at all events, cooperate 
with the soleus and the other one joint muscles. 
These must then, with a smaller contractile mass 
support the full weight of the body, and as a re- 
sult the heels will show tendency to descend, which 
can only be overcome by a special effort. It is 
of course not denied, that gastrocnemius always con- 
tracts synergetically with the soleus. This may 
well be taken for granted from the mere anatomical 
fact that both receive the nerve supply from the 
same source, the internal popliteal nerve, but that 
they also are to some extent independent, as may be 
established by palpation, is explained if we con- 
sider that one branch of this nerve, the posterior 
tibial supplies the soleus in conjunction with the 
other extensors of the ankle, the tibialis posticus, 
the flexor longus digitorum and the flexor longus 



118 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

pollucis, but furnishes no fibers to the gastrocne- 
mius. 

It is of course evident that if, by some such 
means, a posture is to be maintained or a move- 
ment executed by a smaller muscle mass we deal 
with a more difficult mechanical problem that if a 
larger mass is used to uphold or move the same 
weight. We may thus state that 

(6.) An exercise may be advanced by the selec- 
tion of such posture that thereby a smaller muscle 
mass is obliged to execute the work normally done 
by a larger mass. 

This "law" gives an unsought opportunity to 
touch upon a matter which is of considerable inter- 
est to us as students. Many muscles have a double 
effect. Branting asserted as a result of his ex- 
perience that if such a muscle from some reason or 
other be prevented from executing one of its func- 
tions its other effect would be eliminated. This 
was denied by many, who claimed that Branting's 
observation was at fault. Now, however, prom- 
inent physiologists have accepted this view-point. 
Landois, for instance, gives these examples: "If 
the fore arm is strongly pronated and then flexed 
in this position, the biceps remains out of action; 
or with strongly extended elbow, M. Supinator 
brevis alone acts as supinator, not the biceps. The 



PROGRESSION 119 

M. Masseter raises and at the same time pulls the 
lower jaw forward. If now the jaw be pulled 
strongly backward (so that the masseter is not al- 
lowed to pull it forward), the masseter does not 
take part in the raising of the jaw. The temporal 
muscle simultaneously raises and pulls the jaw 
backward. If the jaw be kept strongly forward, 
and raised in this position, the temporalis remains 
inactive. Only by the strongest possible effort, or 
when the position of the bones are peculiarly influ- 
enced by other mechanical causes, do the muscles 
of this group (those having a double function) take 
part in this one-sided effect. " 

The preceding "laws" deal with progression be- 
cause of changes in the intensity of the muscular 
contraction. To certain extent connected with this, 
we might well consider the possibility of a progres- 
sion going in exactly the opposite direction from 
the last mentioned method namely by increasing 
the number of muscles acting con- jointly. By 
means of an ever-increasing isolation of the active 
muscles we gain of course increased local effects, 
by increasing the number of muscles taking part, 
we, on the other hand, increase the general systemic 
effects. We might thus express this "law": 

(7.) A movement may he advanced by increas- 
ing the mass of muscles taking part. 



120 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

It should, however, be observed that with the 
exception of such exercises which fall under the 
previous "law" there seems to be no opportunity 
to progress in this manner within the same type 
of exercise. This method of progression seems 
always to mean a change of type. If we use 
heavemovements as a type, it is clear that we may 
within the pure heavemovements, progress for in- 
stance from undergrasp hanging armbending to 
overgrasp hanging armbending according to the 
previous law, but if we wish to call forth a more 
general effect, by drawing in a larger number of 
muscles we are practically obliged to choose our 
exercise from a different type. If we desire gen- 
eral systemic effects of a higher degree, we may 
well consider the choice, for instance, of a rope 
climbing in which many muscles enter into con- 
traction. 

The previous "laws" have all dealt with the rela- 
tion of the active muscles and the resistance. But 
the extent and duration of the movement should 
also receive consideration. Thus we may wish to 
cause a chest expansion by means of a trunkbend- 
ing backwards. It is clear that the greater the 
curve the greater the expanse. Without adducing 
further examples we may therefore say that 




Fig. -2SA. 
An active suspension of body weight. (Compare with Fig. 22 A.) 




Fig. 23B. 

The bony framework of the shoulder girdle as influenced by active 

suspension. (Compare with Fig. 22 A.) 



PROGRESSION 121 

(8.) A movement may be advanced by carrying 
it nearer its mechanical limit. 

Progression according to this "law" is closely 
bound up with some of those already mentioned. 
It has already been mentioned that the lever upon 
which gravity acts varies with the extent of the 
motion. In the trunk bending backward the lever 
goes from beginning to end. In lying leg raising 
it diminishes with the progress of the movement, 
but in spite of this, there is required a constantly 
growing effort because of the increased shortening 
of the active muscles, etc. 

The duration of an exercise may be increased in 
two ways: 

(9.) An exercise may be advanced by increasing 
the duration of the single contraction. 

(10.) An exercise may be advanced by increas- 
ing the number of its repetitions. 

Examples are not necessary to make clear either 
of these procedures. They are self-evident. 

In the preceding "laws" an endeavor has been 
made to sketch the common means by which we 
may progress by keeping our attention on one side 
of the gymnastic exercise, the muscular contraction. 
It need hardly be said that the object in view is 
not the effect on the muscular tissue. By the 



122 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

muscular contractions we desire to influence the 
vascular system, the nervous system, the respira- 
tory functions, the digestive tract, the skeleton and 
its articulations. The effects on these various 
organs are the important ones, and the "laws" 
formulated are expressed in terms of muscular con- 
traction only because of convenience. 

But an exercise involves not only muscular con- 
traction but also a nervous element. And this 
must be taken into consideration when the question 
is of Progression. By means of our exercises we 
strive to place our muscles under control of the will. 
Progression can therefore not be limited to mere 
mechanical problems, but must follow the laws of 
psychic development. Psychology is as yet so 
indefinite that we can hardly be expected definitely 
to formulate general conclusions. But at all 
events it has progressed sufficiently to support at 
least some of the results to which we have arrived 
by our own observation. 

The gymnastic teacher finds, for instance, that 
to gain good results he must, like all teachers, rivet 
the attention of the pupil to the work to be done. 
He finds that when the attention is diverted to 
other things, the exercises suffer. He knows that 
if his class performs an exercise slovenly, his first 
means of correction is to repeat the exercise with 



PROGRESSION 123 

a sharper command. This sharper command then 
attracts the attention. And the less clean cut, the 
more monotonous the commands, the more dif- 
ficulty the pupil experiences in attending to the 
exercise. Now, though psychologists have not 
been able to give us a satisfactory definition of 
attention, they have studied some of the factors 
which influence it. Among these are the bigness 
and the brightness of the stimulus. Bigness and 
brightness both attract attention. The bigger and 
the brighter the stimulus, the less voluntary effort 
is required by the individual to react to it. And 
per contra, the greater voluntary control the indi- 
vidual has over his attention, the smaller and duller 
may the stimuli be to induce correct reaction. The 
first time an exercise is taught, it may attract and 
hold the attention because of its newness, but after 
a few repetitions this wears off and the command 
for it may suitably be given in a loud, plain, sharp, 
clean-cut manner. The more frequently the exer- 
cise has been taken, the more may the word of com- 
mand approach the usual conversational tone. 
Similar experiences we may gather from the toys 
of children. Bright colored balls, for instance, 
attract the attention and induce motor activities 
better than those held in a dull gray tone. All this 
may then be expressed in this "law": 



124 GYMXASTIC PROBLEMS 

(11.) An exercise may be advanced by a de- 
crease in the bigness or intensity of the stimulus. 

We also learn from personal experience, as well 
as from our Manuals of Psychology, that attention 
cannot be riveted to more than one thing at a time. 
It may oscillate so rapidly from one focus to an- 
other, that we may get the impression that one and 
the same focus includes several objects. But, as 
a matter of fact, attention to several objects is in- 
termittent. So far as motor activities done with 
full attention are concerned, they include several 
distinct factors. There are the elements of direc- 
tion, of distance, of speed, of duration, etc. If we 
are going to teach a new movement, we all con- 
sciously or unconsciously separate these elements, 
paying attention first to the one, then to the other. 
Suppose that you are teaching a series of Indian 
club exercises: you not only sub-divide this series 
in simpler component exercises, but in each of these 
you first teach the element of form more or less 
slowly, and only when this is fairly well established 
do you endeavor to have it repeated in the desired 
time. So with all exercises. We may therefore, 
perhaps, be warranted in putting these experiences 
in the form of some ''laws." 

(12.) In teaching an exercise of a given form 
and speed one of these factors, generally the form, 



PROGRESSION 125 

should first receive our undivided attention, and a 
progression is made in the same exercise by grad- 
ually requiring more perfection in the second 
factor. 

It is of course clear that an exercise consisting 
only of a single movement and return is easier of 
execution than one consisting of several distinct 
movements. It is then a general "law," which 
needs no discussion at all, that 

(13.) Exercises of one count should precede 
those of two counts, to be followed in turn by those 
of three, four or more. 

And also that when an exercise of more than a 
single movement is first taught, each of these move- 
ments must be treated as a separate exercise, or, 
in other words, 

(14.) Each count of an exercise shall in the 
beginning have its separate command by the 
teacher, and progression within the same exercise 
may be made first by the pupils counting aloud, 
then silently for themselves, until finally all count- 
ing is done away with and the several counts are 
executed upon one single command by the teacher. 

If two exercises, each consisting of, let us say, 
two counts, have been taught, both as to form and 
time, and we wish to make a sequence of the two, 
the problem is to go over into an exercise consisting 



126 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

of four counts which present differences in form. 
In many simple exercises this transition may well 
be made immediately, but in many we will find it 
more conducive to correct execution to make a 
short series of each of the separate exercises. 
Thus: 

(15.) After an exercise consisting of more than 
one movement has been mastered both as to form 
and time, progression may be made by teaching a 
short series of the exercise to be executed upon one 
single command. 

(16.) Similar exercises in different directions 
shall only be used in series "without intervening com- 
mands when each exercise has been repeated in a 
correspondingly long series in each of the indi- 
vidual directions. 

After having taught, for instance, arm stretch- 
ing sidewards, and arm stretching upwards, we 
might thus well give a series of two arm stretchings 
sidewards upon one command, and a series of two 
arm stretchings upwards upon one command, be- 
fore we combine the two into a series of one arm 
stretching sideward and one arm stretching up- 
ward. 

Similar conditions should guide us in combina- 
tions of movements of different parts into one exer- 
cise. Each component part of the exercise should 




Fig. 24. 

If the elbows are bent in the shoulder plane, chest elevation and 
expansion result. (See page 44.) 




Fig. 25. 

Chest depression is brought about by the ordinary " chinning.' 
(Compare with Fig. 2If.) 



PROGRESSION 127 

first be taught separately before the combination 
be attempted. 

(17.) Combinations of arm movements with 
those of head, trunk or legs, head movements with 
trunk or leg movements; trunk movements with leg 
movements, and so on, shall only be practised after 
each movement has been taught separately. 

(18.) Two such combinations should precede 
three or more. Thus: Yrd (c) st Hand rotation 
with Head turning; yrd (c) st. Hand rotation 
with Heel raising; and yrd (c) st. Heel raising 
with Head turning, should all precede yrd (c) st. 
Heel raising with Hand-rotation and Head 
turning. 

In many exercises, in fact generally, it is desir- 
able that certain parts of the body shall be held 
immovable while others move. To maintain im- 
mobility is in itself an exercise demanding prac- 
tice, and should be treated as an exercise. Inhibi- 
tion of movement is a matter of education. To 
maintain the arms extended in the prolongation of 
the body in standing is quite easy. To incline the 
body forward from a standing posture when the 
arms are low is also easy. To make this inclina- 
tion forward with the arms extended upward and 
immovable is a task of some difficulty, requiring 
quite a good deal of control. And to execute 



128 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

movements with the arms while the body is held 
in the inclined posture, the arms starting and re- 
turning to a position in the prolongation of the 
body is still more difficult. If we wish to practise 
such exercise, we must therefore see to it that the 
main difficulties have been conquered which meet 
us in assuming the posture itself which shall serve 
as a foundation for the exercise. In other words : 

(19.) An exercise must proceed from a well- 
known starting posture, and the assumption and 
maintenance of this posture must be well practised 
before it be used as a starting posture for exercise. 

Take, for instance, exercises on the parallel bars. 
We all know that it requires a considerable degree 
of strength and coordination to maintain the usual 
starting posture. It must be practised assiduously 
before we can have a right to add exercises, for 
instance, with the legs. Every such exercise not 
only prolongs the period during which the posture 
must be maintained, but diverts the attention and 
changes the mechanical relations, so that errors of 
form are inevitable, if they are begun too early. It 
is of course a matter for each teacher to decide for 
himself when the time has arrived for him to begin 
exercises from this posture; but the general ten- 
dency is to hurry too much. The progression must 
necessarily be very slow when it is a matter of com- 



PROGRESSION 129 

plete reversal of the functions of a part, when the 
movable shoulder-girdle is to serve the role of the 
fixed pelvis. 

It has been maintained that the location of the 
sensory organs give us the clue for progression as 
to direction. The sense-organs are mainly directed 
forward, while they give us little assistance in mo- 
tions backward. Exercises should, therefore, be- 
gin forward, proceed to the sides, and backward 
should be the last. This reasoning seems fallacious 
or at least inadequate. Motions are not made pri- 
marily forward because the sense-organs are di- 
rected forward. The sense-organs are located for- 
ward because motions are habitually made in that 
direction. In other words, it is not the location of 
the sense-organs which should determine the direc- 
tion of the motions, but the habitude of motion. 
Thus: 

(20.) Exercises which from their nature may be 
executed in several directions shall begin in that 
direction in which similar movements are habitually 
performed in daily life. 

No one, for instance, would think of beginning 
to teach a march or a jump in any other direction 
than forward. But it is a mistake to say that the 
backward direction should always come last. It is 
a matter of experience in the gymnasium as well as 



130 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

a psychologically established fact that a movement 
in one direction is best followed by a movement in 
exactly the opposite direction; and, generally 
speaking, it is safer to assume that a motion in a 
forward direction should immediately be followed 
by the corresponding one backward, not by the one 
sideward or in an oblique direction. 

But the matter of direction, though influenced by 
the ease with which conceptions of directions are 
formed in the mind of the pupil, should be more 
powerfully determined by our desires to counteract 
the influences of daily life. There motions in a 
forward direction prevail, and they give as a result, 
if increased, many evil effects. We should not 
begin our instruction by emphasizing these effects. 
Our arms are habitually moved forward. The 
result is incongruity in strength and ability between 
the anterior and the posterior muscles. Why 
should we then begin with arm raising and arm 
stretching forward? To cultivate the conception 
of the forward direction? That is fairly well 
established when the child comes to our classes. 
Better by far it seems to begin with arm movements 
sideways which give us some counteracting effects, 
reserving those in a forward direction until such 
control has been gained that they may be done with- 
out the deforming influence of the shoulder-blades 



PROGRESSION 131 

being moved forward (Fig. 13). Our heads are 
habitually moved forward until the neck is habitu- 
ally carried too far forward. Why should w r e es- 
pecially teach that as an exercise? We should be- 
gin with head bending backward. Our legs habit- 
ually move forward. Why should we begin with 
teaching the children to lift one leg forward, w^hen 
by so doing we induce an erroneous form of the 
back ? Why should we make an arm traveling for- 
ward before we make one sideways or backward, 
when the two latter are correctives; the former on 
the contrary always tends to exaggerate the habit- 
ual postures of head and shoulders ? 

Frequently it is possible to utilize several senses 
or external features to make easy the execution of 
an exercise. Alignment of a rank may first be 
made by using both sight and touch, and progres- 
sion be made, after some practise, by taking the 
alignment only by vision. Marches are easiest 
done in the flank formation; then in front forma- 
tion ; in either case they should first be taught in the 
direction of the gyrnnasium or across it, and after- 
wards they may be made diagonally. If we keep 
the feet at right angles, we take a foot placing in 
the direction of the feet very much easier after a 
facing of forty-five degrees, so that the movement 
of the foot goes in the direction of the ranks or in 



132 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

a perpendicular direction to it. And so on. This 
may perhaps be expressed by the following "law": 

(21.) An exercise is easiest performed if several 
senses are used simultaneously to impress the direc- 
tion, and an advance may be made by gradual with- 
drawal of this assistance. 

The general rule has already been given that all 
exercises involving motion of a single part should 
precede the more complex exercises in which sev- 
eral parts move together. In practise, this has 
been applied to a further extent than should reason- 
ably be done. In many manuals we find it recom- 
mended for instance that one arm shall be raised, 
stretched or bent, then the other, and progression 
be made to the simultaneous motion of both arms. 
This is wrong. The arms are so closely connected 
with each other in the habitual movements of life 
that it requires a considerable degree of inhibitory 
power to maintain the one immovable while the 
other moves. To a less extent the same is true of 
the legs, and if the movements of the legs be such 
that the added weight is not of paramount impor- 
tance, their simultaneous motion is by far easier 
than the separate motion of each. We may there- 
fore consider it as a "law" of quite general 
applicability : 

(22.) Bilateral movements of the extremities 



PROGRESSION 133 

shall precede unilateral ones, and these be followed 
later by asymmetrical ones. 

Generally speaking, any change either in form 
or time, requiring new coordination complexes, 
means added difficulty. Several of the preceding 
"laws" express this view. We will only add one 
more, viz., that: 

(23.) Exercises which have been taught in a 
definite time are advanced by any change of the 
time. 

A movement taught slowly is advanced by being 
taught rapidly. If the execution has been rapid, 
advance may be made by changing to a slow time. 
If the different phases of an exercise have followed 
each other in a certain rhythm, any change of the 
rhvthm constitutes an advance. 

m 

The "laws" here given can hardly be expected 
to supersede the verdicts of experience. They 
should, however, assist the teacher in understanding 
why in a given case he finds that a certain exercise 
should precede another. They no doubt should be 
modified; new ones should be added; some may be 
struck out as covering too few cases. But it is be- 
lieved that they may be utilized as a basis for a 
study of progression, a question which as yet is 
comparatively little understood. 



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CHAPTER VII 

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 

Whatever the system may be which we accept, 
whatever the foundation principles which move us, 
whatever the chief aim we seek, each one has his 
own personal method to apply that system, to 
actualize these principles, to gain that aim. 

The system and the method should not be con- 
founded. Two teachers striving for the same end, 
having the same fundamental principles, that is, 
believing in the same system, may seek to gain the 
results by widely divergent methods. A good 
system may easily be valueless in the hands of a 
teacher with bad methods ; while a poor system may 
at least be made to appear attractive if it be applied 
according to superior methods. The Method is 
essentially a matter of the teacher's personality. 
The differences of systems are apparently fading 
away. We already see dimly in the future the 
hopeful rising of universally recognized fundamen- 
tal principles upon which a Science of Gymnastics 
may be founded, and when it happens, national and 
personal appellations will no longer be recognized 

135 



136 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

or tolerated. Increase of knowledge will result in 
the death of antagonistic systems; it should also 
make us less dependent on authoritative dicta, more 
individually free, less machine like, more human 
and personal, and our methods will therefore grow 
ever more divergent. 

But even so they must not become lawless. 
They must serve our principles. When we become 
less trainers, more teachers, our methods, however 
different they may be, must in their general aspect, 
correspond to the general laws of Pedagogy. 

The most general of these "laws" is probably that 
which decrees that the teacher shall arouse his 
pupils to self activity of the highest order. We 
cannot do the work for the pupils. We can simply 
assist and guide them along the road from the 
simple to the complex; from the easy to the dif- 
ficult; from the known to the related unknown. 
They themselves shall find and traverse the road, 
being drawn along by the irresistible force of their 
own feeling, their own desire. There must be no 
pro forma performance of tasks imposed by the 
authorities, but there must be self-willed efforts 
leading upward and ever upward. No work in the 
schools can fulfill its educational purpose if it be 
considered by the pupils as mere toil and drudgery. 
By the old education, symbolized by the rod, the 



CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 137 

pupils were driven to their work. The new educa- 
tion, which had its first practical application 
simultaneously with the general upheaval con- 
temporaneously with the gymnastic renaissance, is 
characterized by interest, joy, pleasure and happi- 
ness. Guts Muths called gymnastics work in the 
garb of play. There should be no doubt about 
gymnastics being work ; but it should be made will- 
ing work. We must attach interest to it. What- 
ever the system may be, whatever methods be util- 
ized, this must be ever in our minds, that uninterest- 
ing work always spells failure. And this not for 
children merely. There is no difference between 
child and adult in this regard, that work without in- 
terest is poorly and slovenly executed, and shirked 
as much as possible. Whatever the age of the 
pupils may be, work combined with interest is well 
done; it is a pleasure and an enjoyment. No sigh 
of relief, but rather one of regret escapes them at 
its end. So with gymnastics. If there be no in- 
terest attached to it, it is poor gymnastics. If it be 
interesting, it may be good gymnastics. 

But there is this difference between the adult 
and the child, that the interest of the former need 
not necessarily be immediate and direct, but due to 
the knowledge that certain mediate and indirect 
benefits may accrue from a work which in itself is 



138 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

uninteresting. For the sake of remote benefits, the 
adult may be brought to exert himself with vim, 
with vigor, and pleasure to a labor which in itself 
is the merest mechanical toil. The child, on the 
other hand, is not able to see or appreciate to the 
full value the distant and indirect benefits, but must 
find the interest in the work itself, or in something 
immediately connected with it. It is only the force 
of authority which can make the child perform ex- 
ercises to which no immediate interest is closely 
knitted. The adult may find interest in even such 
apparent inanities as stretching his arms in various 
directions at the command of a leader, or the me- 
chanical labor of pulling on a pulley-weight for 
every day of a whole year, if he knows, or believes, 
for instance that his health will be benefited there- 
by. The child may find interest in the same 
movements when the procedure is novel, but will 
soon lose the interest in them, the benefits appear- 
ing too vague and remote. The teacher must knit 
some special interest to it, if the child shall benefit 
from it. He must be able to awaken and maintain 
the interest of the class directly in the work. If 
not, the pupils will look upon it simply as an addi- 
tional and disagreeable task put before them by 
the school or the parents, and the gymnastic lessons 
become merely a means of further increasing the 



CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 139 

over burdening of the pupils from which they now 
frequently suffer, not so much on account of the 
great amount of work done, as because of bad 
methods of instruction. The value of gymnastics 
under such conditions becomes minimized. In- 
stead of being a blessing, it becomes a bane. A 
dry, solemn performance of certain definite move- 
ments is no more gymnastics, as it should, ought 
and can be, than memorizing the names of the 
Presidents and the dates of battles is history. Of 
educative power, of development — all force, there 
is none. If that is the kind of gymnastics offered, 
it is far better to have it struck from the curricula 
and the advertising circulars of the school. By it 
we do not make an able and happy race. We are 
killing souls. Every teacher ought to take to heart 
the lesson conveyed by Mark Twain in the descrip- 
tion of Tom Sawyer whitewashing the fence. 
There we have it vividly depicted how a mere me- 
chanical labor, a toil, a drudgery, a monotonous 
grinding, a really shameful occupation for any boy 
with self-esteem, according to Tom's view-point, 
rapidly changes its character, and becomes a pleas- 
ure coveted by every boy in the town, to take part 
in which they gladly give up their treasures, and 
this simply because of Tom's ability to put it before 
them in a new light. There is no more fun in mov- 



140 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

ing one's arms, legs, or body in this way or that, 
than there is in whitewashing a fence. Both may, 
however, be made immensely interesting to the av- 
erage child, if we have the power to surround them 
with some influences which hide the essential char- 
acter of work, that is the obligation of performance, 
and make it appear in the garb of pleasure. A 
healthful, pleasant, joyful spirit must fill the other- 
wise empty forms. 

What means the teacher shall employ to arouse 
and maintain the interest of his pupils, to awaken 
in them a desire to take part, and make them regret 
when they, from some reason or other, are obliged to 
miss a lesson, no one can say definitely. It lies 
with the individual teacher. It depends on his 
personality. The very best teacher is unable to 
give a prescription suitable for another. There is 
no highway leading to success except the one we 
blaze for ourselves. There is no formula to be fol- 
lowed, no method that suits all. Method there 
must be. But not a cut and dried one, transferred 
from one individual to another. The method you 
use must be your own. All that can be said is that 
if you are going to be successful, if you are going 
to carry your pupils with you, you must let the 
work carry you. To interest others, you must be 
interested yourself. You must put your soul into 



CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 141 

the work. That is at the bottom of it, — your soul. 
If you go listlessly and carelessly to your work, it 
does not matter how deep your knowledge may be, 
it does not matter how good a gymnast you may 
be, your class will dwindle and disappear, if a vol- 
untary one; will feel tired and fagged out at the 
close of the lesson instead of being refreshed, if 
an obligatory one, and the work done may not have 
been half the quantity it might have been. The 
pupils have come to you seeking bread; you have 
offered them stones. 

When you see one teacher using one means suc- 
cessfully, it does not mean that the same method 
will suit you. What is good for one may be ruin- 
ous for another. Imitations are inferior to the 
model, copies to the original. If you are not suc- 
cessful in your teaching you must not throw the 
responsibility for your lack of success upon those 
above you, who have refused you this or that ex- 
ternal help. The main source of interest does not 
lie in this or that apparatus, this or that kind of 
room ; it lies in your own personality. If you can- 
not make that personality tell upon your pupils, 
you probably could not use the means you seek. A 
smile, a word of encouragement, a jest, an inflec- 
tion of the voice judiciously employed may make 
all the difference between success and failure. 



142 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

Have you used them? Originality, personality, 
individuality, love, — these make the good teacher. 
And they cannot be transferred from one to an- 
other. 

But we are, even at best, pretty imperfect and 
need well to draw from the experiences of others. 
We need to learn from each other and to see 
whether the means used by somebody else would 
not fit us. I once heard one teacher say that she 
relied quite a little on tea-parties and mothers' 
meetings. I do not think that that would suit me. 
I would rather have children's meetings without the 
tea. The means recommended can never be pan- 
aceas. They are only examples. Of them you 
may choose one, several, or none according to your 
nature. They do not by themselves create interest. 
You may be successful without them. You may 
fail with them. 

One such means commonly recommended and 
employed in this country is musical accompaniment 
to the exercises. Nowhere else is music used in the 
gymnasium so extensively as in the United States. 
The Germans use it far less than the Americans; 
the Swedes still less than the Germans. But no 
school is opposed to it on principle. Music has 
been said to be absolutely condemned by the Swed- 
ish gymnasts as an accompaniment to exercises. 




Fig. 28. 
A writing posture which should result from gymnastic training. 

(See page 52.) 




Fig. 29. 



A writing posture commonly seen. (Compare 'with Fig. 28.) 



CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 143 

That is not true. It is true, however, that the 
Swedes consider music to be very much abused, and 
they in that regard have the support of the Ger- 
mans, even though the latter do not go so far in 
their statements. It is, however, of less importance 
for us to know what the upholders of this or that 
system believe as to music, than to establish what 
are the actually known facts as to its influence. 

Music has been known from time immemorial 
as a stimulant to action, and also as an agent de- 
pressing the motor activities, according to its 
various nature. It does not matter what our be- 
liefs may be as to its usefulness in the gymnasium. 
Its strong influence upon the bodily movements 
cannot be denied. But our knowledge is rather 
indefinite. Experiments have been made, but their 
results have added very little to the general knowl- 
edge we possessed beforehand. The following 
facts seem to be more or less definitely estab- 
lished : 

(1.) The strength of the muscular contraction 
may be increased by any sound made simultan- 
eously with it. 

Thus a person may squeeze a dynamometer with 
all his power and note the deflection of the indi- 
cator. If now a gong is sounded, or a note struck 
on the piano while the effort is made, the deflection 



1U GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

will grow, showing advanced intensity of con- 
traction. 

Observations of that kind are mentioned in every 
hand-book of experimental psychology, and may 
easily be verified by anybody. 

(2.) The increase of strength thus shown is not 
dependent merely on the existence of the sound, 
but on its intensity, growing with the latter. Nu- 
merous experimenters have made observations on 
this. 

Fere, for instance, placed his subject at different 
distances from a tuning fork, thereby varying the 
intensity of the sound, and found 

at a distance of 8 meters a contraction of 22 units 
at a distance of 7 meters a contraction of 22 units 
at a distance of 6 meters a contraction of 24 units 
at a distance of 5 meters a contraction of 29 units 
at a distance of 4 meters a contraction of 32 units 
at a distance of 3 meters a contraction of 35 units 
at a distance of 2 meters a contraction of 45 units 
at a distance of 1 meter a contraction of 48 units 
at a distance of meter a contraction of 52 units 

These experiments by Fere as also those the re- 
sults of which are given in the next table were made 
on hysterical patients, which no doubt explains the 
great discrepancy in the strength of muscular con- 



CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 145 

traction under varying nervous influences. It is 
safe to assume that experiments on persons with 
greater nervous stability would give very much less 
marked results, though we have many indications 
which should make us expect results in the same 
directions. 

(3.) The intensity of the contraction is also a 
function of the pitch. The intensity of the sound 
remaining unchanged, Fere found the following 
variations from the use of one octave : 

Ut 2 gave a muscular contraction of 26 units 
Re 2 gave a muscular contraction of 27 units 
Mi 2 gave a muscular contraction of 28 units 
Fa 2 gave a muscular contraction of 28 units 
Sol 2 gave a muscular contraction of 31 units 
La 2 gave a muscular contraction of 35 units 
Si 2 gave a muscular contraction of 38 units 
Ut 3 gave a muscular contraction of 45 units 

a fairly uniform increase with the growing number 
of vibrations. 

(4.) A sound simultaneous with a muscular con- 
traction not only increases its intensity, but also 
postpones the moment when further contraction 
becomes impossible because of fatigue. 

If our dynamometer has been arranged in such 
a manner that instead of registering merely the 



146 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

maximum pressure, its variations from time to time 
are recorded, it has been found that 

(5.) The steadiness of muscular contraction 
suffers considerably from any outside stimulus. 

The increase of strength noted under the first 
four headings may perhaps be explained as a result 
of the summation of the stimuli. The fluttering 
and unsteadiness is probably due to a diversion of 
the attention from the action to the outside 
stimulus. 

As to attention and its influence on the move- 
ment, we know certain things definitely. The 
psychologists have expressed it in the phrase "A 
movement thought is a movement begun." In 
physiological terms, we may express it in several 
ways. For instance, "muscular contraction of a 
certain part causes an arterial afflux to that part." 
The mere thinking of the movement, the focussing 
of the attention on it, has the same effect, though 
to a less degree. A movement of my arm increases 
its sensory power. But so does the mere thinking 
of the movement. This is well known to psychol- 
ogists. Attention to a movement decreases the 
reaction time, increases the strength, and increases 
the resistance to fatigue. All this under the sup- 
position that the attention be not unduly pro- 
longed. In that case, the opposite phenomena 



CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 147 

appear. To make strong movements we must at- 
tend to them. Any influence which attracts the 
attention from the movement decreases its physio- 
logical effects. Now we know that 

(6.) Music attracts the attention from the 
movement. 

This, which I allege to be a proved fact, is dis- 
claimed by many. It is said, "Practically there is 
little basis for this statement. Many teachers have 
found that greater attention is given the exercises 
because of the music and the rhythmic demand 
created by it." It is easily understood that those 
who use music should believe so. This belief is the 
reason why they employ it. I believe, however, 
that the discrepancy between us is due to the fact 
that we do not use words in the same sense. There 
are two factors which enter into the execution of a 
movement: its form and its time. No one denies 
that the music enables the pupils to follow a given 
rhythm more easily if this rhythm is punctuated 
by accompaniment. But this stronger attention 
drawn to the time-element we claim diverts and 
destroys the attention to the form. The matter 
for us to decide is, then: Which is the more im- 
portant factor in a given exercise, its form or the 
time in which it should be executed? 

(7.) We know that melodies affect movements 



148 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

differently, according to the intervals in the octave, 
— those in the major key being stimulating, those 
in the minor key being motor depressing. Though 
investigations show that the main influence prob- 
ably is that of pitch, already noted, varying inter- 
vals probably have some effects. Scripture ex- 
erted a maximum pressure of eight pounds during 
silence, which was increased to eight and three- 
quarter pounds under the influence of the giants' 
motive from the Rheingold, and decreased to seven 
and a half pounds by the slumber motive from the 
Walkiire. 

These are practically all the facts, which have 
been established, regarding the influence of music 
on exercises. They are brought forth here, not to 
serve as the basis for deductions, but to emphasize 
the results of our inductive experience. 

What are these experiences? 

(1.) A movement may be strengthened, ex- 
ecuted with more force, if a sound is made simul- 
taneous with it. This beneficial influence may be 
exerted by a word, a shout, a yell, as well as by a 
musical note. It is recognized by many an ath- 
letic trainer, who just at the moment when the 
student takes off in a pole vault, in a jump, or sim- 
ilar event, shouts an encouraging "lift," "up!" 
"get over!" or something of that nature. It is 




Fig. 30. 

A type of activity in which the ribs are held elevated while the 

abdominal wall is strengthened. (See page 53.) 



CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 149 

found beneficial in a series of exercises, say of six 
to eight count, all to be executed successively on 
one command, that the teacher occasionally in the 
middle of the series suddenly counts "five," "six." 
This beneficial effect which corresponds to our first 
established fact is more pronounced if given sud- 
denly and unexpectedly. Hence melodies played 
on an instrument will not serve this purpose as well 
as words, hand-clapping, or stamping. Music 
therefore is undesirable. 

(2.) For the majority of exercises the form is 
of the utmost importance if best results shall be 
gained. If the form be violated, totally different 
effects from those expected may result. Full at- 
tention must therefore be given the form and only 
when the form is thoroughly ingrained and has 
become habitual can the greater part of the atten- 
tion be focussed on the time element. Music re- 
verses this condition. It is impossible to make, for 
instance, a trunkbending backward with feet sep- 
arated and arms extended upward in the form 
which we consider the best one, to the accompani- 
ment of music. It may of course be retorted that 
any form of exercise which does not adapt itself 
to a rhythmic execution is because of that very fact 
an erroneous one. But I, for one, consider that 
this is begging the question. 



150 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

(3.) Whenever special stress shall be laid on the 
time element of exercises which naturally adapt 
themselves to a rhythmical execution, music is of 
decided benefit. This is the case with marches and 
running. They are naturally rhythmical. They 
shall be performed in definite form to be sure, but 
they are necessary or at least desirable at such an 
early stage that the pupils have not as yet acquired 
that amount of physical education which expresses 
itself in proper . carriage, the maintenance of the 
straight ranks, the exact distances between the 
individuals. If for no other purpose than to move 
the pupils from place to place in the Gymnasium, 
or to relieve the tedium of being confined to one 
place on the floor, marches should be used already 
in the first lesson. To impress the time, music may 
well be used then, if the march be somewhat pro- 
longed. 

But it is a decided mistake always to use music 
in marches and running. It is desirable also to 
habituate the pupils to maintain the time element 
without that assistance. If we always rely upon 
the accompaniment, we make the pupils unable to 
maintain an even rhythm without it; we educate 
them for artificial conditions, which we have cre- 
ated in the Gymnasium, not for the natural condi- 
tions of daily life, where we are to walk without 



CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 151 

music, and where we ought to do it in a suitable 
rhythm in order to avoid unnecessary expenditure 
of energy. 

( 4. ) Music is furthermore of value in such exer- 
cises where the form has been so thoroughly incor- 
porated in the nervous mechanism that no attention 
whatever need be paid to it, because it cannot be 
changed without a special effort of will, it has be- 
come second nature. That is the case in the 
marches and running of the well trained gymnasts. 
Here the music is not needed for the sake of the 
rhythm. Its value lies in its general stimulating 
influence. The influence which we saw the giants 
motive from the Rheingold gave Professor Scrip- 
ture. That was the influence that the Marseillaise 
gave the French revolutionists. That was the 
benefit our soldiers received from "John Brown" 
and "Marching Through Georgia/ 5 That is the 
value of music at our balls, the frequenters of which 
under this influence do an amount of work which 
is many times as great as that which would be pos- 
sible without it. 

If we are utilizing memorized drills of any kind, 
such as are frequent in Gymnastics with Indian 
Clubs, dumb-bells, wands, or other portable ap- 
paratus, in fancy steps, dances, etc., and the forms 
have been mastered to such a degree that no serious 



152 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

mistakes are committed, music may well be used 
for the same purpose. 

(5.) Music may furthermore be used with ad- 
vantage in such exercises, which, though not neces- 
sarily rhythmic in character, are more or less 
consecutive, and of a nature which brings them 
somewhat close to applied Gymnastics in a nar- 
rower sense, to sports, and games, and play. Such 
are a number of exercises on the parallel and 
horizontal bars, tumbling, climbing, vaulting, etc. 
This group approaches closely the memorized drills 
just spoken of. In their completed forms the}' do 
not consist of distinct well defined movements 
following each other in a given cadence but one 
movement imperceptibly passes over into the suc- 
ceeding one. It is not possible then that the 
rhythm of the music shall impress itself upon the 
exercise, destroying its form, but by the general 
stimulus gained, more strength will be developed 
in the execution, more endurance, more general 
ability. 

One writer who did not recommend the dailv use 
of music in Gymnastics defended it in exhibition 
work upon the plea that "when the Gymnastic work 
of the school room or the Gymnasium is to be ex- 
hibited before the public eye, it must be presented 
in a different way from that of the every day 



CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 153 

routine," in a manner which is more pleasing and 
attractive. This is a view which ought to be 
deprecated. It savors too much of the circus or 
the vaudeville stage. When work is shown to the 
public it should be shown exactly as it is taught. 
It should be a sample of the routine work. It 
should not be specially prepared, and decked out 
in ornaments to attract by false pretenses. The 
Gymnastic material should not be arranged any 
more "thoughtfully and artistically," during ex- 
hibitions than during the every day lesson. The 
lesson is of more importance than the exhibition, 
as the pupil is of more importance than the on- 
looker. Nothing extra must be taken into consid- 
eration to produce the desired effect upon the 
latter. The public should be made welcome to see 
the work as it is actually given. If they demand 
anything but that, they should be referred to the 
circus, where everything is done to supply a feast 
for their eyes. 

Music has thus a definite though limited value 
in the Gymnasium. We have hitherto spoken of 
instrumental music. The question still remains to 
be considered whether vocal music has any place in 
the Gymnasium. The question is legitimate in as 
much as some teachers allow their pupils to sing 
during their exercises. Without entering into a 



154 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

lengthy discussion of the matter, we may easily 
agree that song is unsuitable for all such exercises 
for which instrumental music is out of place. And 
its benefits are further limited. It may profitably 
be employed in marches and certain consecutive 
rhythmic exercises, like the milder forms of folk 
dances, certain games for children, etc. But as we 
should make the demands that the respiration must 
be free and unhampered during the exercises, it 
must not be employed in any exercises involving 
effort, nor in any where the movements of arms or 
trunk make special demands on the thoracic dila- 
tation. To recommend singing with wrestling and 
boxing as one Hollander has done, seems to be pass- 
ing into the realm of absurdities. 

At least one director, whom I personally know, 
and whom I consider, as a rule, well defends her 
position in the front rank of our profession, has 
recommended, that one part of the class shall sing 
while the rest work. If this be intended as a rare 
occurrence, if it be done once in a month or so to 
add zest to the work, no criticism can be offered. 
Any occasional variation is permissible. But we 
are constantly agitating for the extension of the 
time to be devoted to Gymnastics. What then 
shall be said about any method which encroaches 
upon the admittedly too short time given us. It is 




CO 

o 

1—1 



CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 155 

our unquestionable duty to utilize every possible 
minute for Gymnastic exercises. To more or less 
habitually set aside part of the time for other pur- 
poses must not be permitted, though these purposes 
may be ever so desirable. Our pupils must be given 
Gymnastics during the whole period set aside by 
the school authorities for that purpose. It now 
happens in every class there is some time when a 
part of the class is not engaged in active exercises. 
But this time must be minimized. The class may 
be divided up in sections, each to be engaged in a 
different way, and if it is more or less impossible 
to keep all at work at the same time, the lesson 
should be so arranged, that the inactivity falls at 
such times when a physical rest is necessary. This 
is when the respiration has become somewhat 
labored, and singing exercises then are decidedly 
objectionable. 

Another means recommended for the purpose of 
maintaining the interest of the pupils is frequent 
changes of the exercises. No one can remain 
interested in constant repetitions of the same exer- 
cises. Education means steady progress. The 
human mind is so constituted that it yearns for new 
experiences, and newness is in itself interest evok- 
ing. The child and the adult are alike in this 
respect. We frequently find the child repeating 



156 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

over and over again the same movements, just as 
we frequently find when we have told a story to 
a child, that we are met with a "Tell it again." 
Professor Preyer's child took off and replaced the 
lid of a box seventy-nine times in succession. Dr. 
Gulick's baby dropped a block from his table to 
the floor some one hundred times, I think, the father 
replacing it each time. We all have had some such 
experience. But these exercises are not ordered, 
forced, commanded, directed. They are spon- 
taneous. If we should endeavor to make a child 
repeat an exercise as frequently, we would utterly 
fail. This simply means that formal gymnastic 
movements directed in every detail are unsuitable 
for the small child because the child's interest can- 
not be knitted to them. Gradually, however, there 
can and should be introduced in the activity of the 
child more and more formality. This change must 
not be sudden. It must be a slow process. We 
should certainly not drop the spontaneous play and 
begin with a half hour or a quarter hour gymnastic 
lesson. Play must be a prominent part of the first 
lessons and it should recede for the more formal 
work very slowly. And in the formal elements of 
the lesson, there must of course be more freedom 
than for adults. And there must be great variety, 
as great a variety as possible. 



CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 157 

In the adult, appeal may be made to indirect and 
remote interests, but the direct interest due to new- 
ness wanes in him even more rapidly than in the 
child, so that it is desirable to supply him also with 
a great variety. 

Gymnastic exercises are of such great number, 
however, that no teacher master of his subject need 
fear running short of material. The principle of 
gymnastic selection of course bars out a large num- 
ber of possible movements. But, as Ling ex- 
pressed it, "Even the most careful selection of the 
most effective and most suitable exercises is erron- 
eous, if it puts too narrow limits to the material." 

The young teacher is apt to vacillate between 
two extremes in this regard, both equally injurious. 
He is either so diffident about using forms, which 
have not been used by his teacher, for fear of caus- 
ing injury by erroneous selection, that he does not 
strike out for himself in any new direction but 
keeps in the path trodden by him under the direc- 
tion of his teacher. Or finding the interest fading 
from some reason or other, he begins an ever end- 
ing chase for new forms, which sooner or later 
wrecks him on the rock of all possibility. 

Whatever method we use in teaching, it is a 
fundamental condition for success that there must 
be interest, joy, and pleasure in the lesson. But 



158 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

this is a condition for success only, it is not the end 
in view. We must not base our methods solely on 
a search for pleasure. We shall work for a richer, 
pleasanter, happier life. But life is not all pleas- 
ure. It is a mixture of good and evil. And our 
schools, and gymnasia should be miniature repre- 
sentations of life. If we only seek pleasure in our 
gymnasia, we tend to unfit our pupils for the 
seriousness of life. Let us strive for a feeling of 
pleasure in making efforts, efforts even in over- 
coming that which is unpleasant, but do not let us 
avoid the efforts themselves. These we shall seek. 
It is the overcoming of obstacles in life for which 
we work. It is to prepare for the serious business 
of life that the gymnasium exists. Our youth must 
be habituated to look seriously at life, at any task 
put before them. Let us by all means make the 
paths they must travel so easy that they do not get 
discouraged by failures. Let us surround them by 
sunshine. Sunshine flooding in into the innermost 
depths of their souls. But do not let us seek the 
sunshine merely in order to sit down in it. Let us 
seek it for the invigorating influence it has upon 
us, in order that we may do more, not less. Let 
the interest pervade everything we do. But let us 
not for the sake of the interest forget our duties as 
teachers and guides. Let us remember that we 



CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 159 

should decide what the pupils should do, when they 
should do it and how. In other words let us main- 
tain discipline. That is the second general demand 
which we make upon the methods. Discipline is 
necessary, and a very strict discipline at that. But 
not a discipline of the kind to which the old world 
soldier must submit, which blots out the individual- 
ity of the man and makes of him a mere automaton 
responding to the commands of his superior without 
thought, feeling or will. It must be a discipline in 
a higher sense, a self-willed submission to reason- 
able authority. The former kind of discipline, 
despotism, tyranny, bossism, is incompatible with 
interest, incompatible with development and 
growth, incompatible with education. The latter, 
on the other hand, cannot only be combined with 
interest, but is a result of interest, it is in itself a 
growth and development, an education. It is valu- 
able not only because it permits us to do systematic 
work. Such may be done under autocratism but 
while the latter chokes what human traits exist in 
the pupil, the former cares for them and nurses 
them to their full development. To differentiate 
between these two kinds of discipline, to keep the 
one on the highest possible level, while avoiding the 
other like the plague, should be the constant en- 
deavor of the teacher. It might seem unnecessary 



160 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

to make this statement. It ought to be self evi- 
dent. But it is necessary as long as there are many 
who sin against it. 

Education means the bringing up of the indi- 
vidual to the highest possible degree of efficiency, 
so that he may be able to actualize his latent powers. 
But it does not strive for the actualization of these 
powers in any and all directions, but in certain 
definite directions. It means not only the rearing 
of power but bridling it, guiding it into channels 
which lead to a desirable goal, preventing it from 
overflowing into others. The skilful, intelligent 
criminal has power in abundance. It is only mis- 
directed. We must rightly guide those under our 
care. Hartwell expresses it, "We must work 
towards the formation of proper habits of action." 

But habit is the result of repetition, of doing over 
and over again the same thing, until the nervous 
processes involved have grooved out their paths of 
least resistance so well marked off from other pos- 
sible tracks, that no overflow of nerve current can 
take place into them except when volition by a 
special effort opens the sluice gates. We should 
carefully scrutinize the possibilities and make our 
selection of gymnastic forms with the most rigid 
attention to the results which we wish to reach. 
When once we have chosen our means, the exercise, 



CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 161 

as being the best among all possible ones for a 
definite purpose, then we must insist upon the ut- 
most possible precision in the execution, and we 
must stick to it through thick and thin, remember- 
ing that every little deviation from the ideal makes 
less likely and less rapid the formation of the best 
habit as we understand it, and that it paves the way 
for incorrect habits. Precision is the third funda- 
mental condition for success which must be fulfilled 
by our methods. 

This does not imply that absolute perfection shall 
or can be demanded from the very first. If the 
pupils can do the exercise perfectly, it shows that 
they already possess the physical education repre- 
sented by these exercises, and that repetition of 
them would be of small value for future develop- 
ment. They would mainly serve as means to retain 
the development already attained. But we must 
bring on a higher and ever higher development. 
This comes only from effort. Effort to reach just 
a short step beyond that which we now can do to 
perfection. The teacher must carefully avoid two 
opposite pit falls. He must not constantly drill 
and drill the pupils in such exercises as can be per- 
formed with ease. But he must make the advance- 
ment into new fields so gradual, that the pupil feels 
that there is needed just a little more effort to land 



162 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

him where he wants to be. The precision in the 
new exercises shall be nearly perfect. What this 
"nearly perfect" means must be decided by the 
pedagogic tact of the teacher. In the gymnasium 
as everywhere else there are essentials and less es- 
sentials. Greater precision must of course be de- 
manded in the former than in the latter. The diffi- 
culty lies in determining what is essential, and what 
is less so. 

A concrete example of essential and less essen- 
tial features : When the body is in the fundamental 
standing posture with the arms in the shoulder plane 
and extended above the head as high as possible, the 
posture is called the stretch standing posture. It 
will be noticed that there are three distinct condi- 
tions which must be fulfilled by the pupil in assum- 
ing this posture. But of these two are absolute, the 
third is relative. Absolute demand is made for the 
retention of the body in the fundmental posture 
and for the arms being in the shoulder plane. 
These are the essentials of the posture. To what 
height the arms are brought depends on the ability 
of the pupil. "As high as possible." This includes 
of course another absolute demand, a demand for 
effort. That is always an essential. If a pupil can 
bring the arms to parallelism, without changing 
the posture of the body and without allowing the 




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Fig. 34. 

The beneficial effects of trunk bending backward are lost unless 
it is performed correctly. (Compare with Fig. 15. See 
page 85.) 



CONSIDERATIONS OF METHOD 163 

arms to go in front of the shoulders he must do so. 
It is the ideal to which we strive. Nothing less 
should be demanded from him. But if he cannot 
reach parallelism, a certain amount of divergence 
is permissible. We seek to gain a definite form but 
the form is not sought for itself. It is only the 
means by which we hope to gain certain effects. 
The chief effect which we wish to get from this 
posture is a tension in the tissues running from the 
front side of the thorax to the arms combined with 
contraction of those on the hind aspect, which shall 
result in increased mobility of the chest and greater 
control of the shoulder girdle. We gain those best 
by the absolute demand for the two features and 
effort in the third. 

One writer has expressed the value which he at- 
taches to precision by saying that precision is neces- 
sary in order "to give pedagogic value to work." 
Another writer disapproves this, saying that "It is 
difficult to appreciate what is meant by 'pedagogic 
value.' The term has rather more sound than sig- 
nificance." I believe on the contrary that this 
phrase has the greatest significance. It means to 
me a recognition that slip shod work is destruc- 
tive instead of developmental. It means a recog- 
nition of the well-known fact that nervous impulses 
during a low stage of development tend to diffuse 



164 GYMNASTIC PROBLEMS 

themselves over large areas, and that the higher 
stages are marked by proper localization. It recog- 
nizes that attention and will are necessary in learn- 
ing new movements. It means that he who con- 
sciously endeavors to do a thing as near to the 
ideal put before him as possible will secure benefits 
in being habituated always to doing his best. It 
means that there will be no necessity of reeducat- 
ing an individual for the purpose of effacing errors 
which have become ingrained by practice. Preci- 
sion is necessary to gain the best physical effects, 
and without precision practically no psychic devel- 
opment results from the exercises. The selection 
of forms differs according to the system we believe 
in, according to the standard we have chosen, ac- 
cording to the principles which move us. But there 
must be a selection of forms which seem to us best 
for our purpose. To demand precision in these 
is absolutely necessary. 

Whatever our methods, how different they may 
be according to our different personalities, they 
must all have these three characteristics in common : 
they must create and maintain interest; they must 
create and maintain discipline ; they must recognize 
the value of precision. 







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